It's no secret at this point that HTC's seen better days. The company knows how to make a solid smartphone, but consecutive quarterly losses and the departure of its mobile president has resulted in some pretty rough waters. In an attempt to turn the ship around, HTC has announced that it's creating a...blockchain smartphone.
According to The Next Web, HTC's blockchain phone will be called Exodus and is scheduled for a release at some point in October. Exodus will come equipped with its own universal wallet for managing various cryptocurrencies and special technology will allow it to run all sorts of decentralized apps.
Furthermore, all Exodus phones will also act as nodes to manage cryptocurrency trading that takes place through HTC's own blockchain network.
Phil Chen, (the creator of HTC's Vive headset) who will be leading the Exodus project, says –
Through Exodus, we are excited to be supporting underlying protocols such as Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, and more. We would like to support the entire blockchain ecosystem, and in the next few months we'll be announcing many more exciting partnerships together.
HTC's yet to announce pricing for its Exodus phone, but when it does go on sale, customers will be able to purchase it using, you guessed it, cryptocurrency.
There's no doubt that HTC's trying something different compared to most other Android OEMs with Exodus, but I'm not sure this is the product that'll revitalize the company's mobile business. Cryptocurrency is an incredibly niche and volatile technology, and basing an entire phone around it seems like something only diehard blockchain enthusiasts will take to.
What do you think about Exodus?
