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AT&T Sells Out of HTC First Inventory at $0.99, Compares Experience to Apple's Motorola ROKR Experiment

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Back in April, Facebook and HTC teamed up to unveil the first "Facebook Phone," which turned out to the HTC First equipped with Facebook's "Home" software, which brought an integrated Facebook experience to the device.

Both Facebook Home and the HTC First turned out to be unpopular with Android users, with the software garnering quite a few negative reviews in the Google Play store and AT&T deciding to drop the price on the phone from $99 to $0.99 shortly after its release.

According to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, though the HTC First failed to catch on, it wasn't an entirely negative experience for the company. "We sold a bunch more when we lowered the price," he told CNET in an interview on Monday. "We sold everything we had on that." Despite the fact that Vega says AT&T has sold all of its HTC First phones, they remain in stock both on the website and in stores, making the phone's official status unclear.

home.jpg
Vega declined to discuss how many units AT&T has managed to sell thus far, but he did compare AT&T's experience with the HTC First to Apple's experience with the Motorola ROKR.

Introduced in 2005, the Motorola ROKR featured iTunes integration, offering users a way to play music purchased from the iTunes Store. It came equipped with a music player similar to Apple's iPods, but like the HTC First, it experienced lackluster sales and was discontinued the next year.

Two years after the failure of the ROKR, which was Apple's first foray into the phone market, the iPhone was released. Vega is confident that Facebook may have a similar experience and told CNET that AT&T is committed to continuing to work with the company.

"We have a great relationship with Apple just like we have a great relationship with Facebook," he said. "We look forward to working with them to make Home better."

Article Link: AT&T Sells Out of HTC First Inventory at $0.99, Compares Experience to Apple's Motorola ROKR Experiment
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/25/att-sells-out-of-htc-first-inventory-at-0-99-compares-experience-to-apples-motorola-rokr-experiment/
the-oz-man

the-oz-man

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2009
403
154
So what you are trying to say AT&T is that a bad phone experience sold better at $0.99 than it did as a bad phone experience at $99. Yeah, I follow . . .:rolleyes:
 
Will do good

Will do good

macrumors 6502a
Mar 24, 2010
666
391
Earth
the-oz-man said:
So what you are trying to say AT&T is that a bad phone experience sold better at $0.99 than it did as a bad phone experience at $99. Yeah, I follow . . .:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

They will do even better next time, if AT&T give the buyer $99 when you "buys" the phone. :D
 
keysofanxiety

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
9,539
25,302
"We sold a lot more when we were essentially giving the phone away. Facebook Home is really what people want, which is why nobody chose to pay for it." :rolleyes:
 
D

Dookieman

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2009
390
67
MacRumors said:
Two years after the failure of the ROKR, which was Apple's first foray into the phone market, the iPhone was released. Vega is confident that Facebook may have a similar experience and told CNET that AT&T is committed to continuing to work with the company.
Click to expand...

This is funniest part of the article. Facebook's only direct is down (In both popularity and stock price). :p
 
nutmac

nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
6,053
7,312
While there are some coincidences, ROKR was 99.9% Motorola's effort, with one minor difference of iTunes replacing its music app.

In the case of HTC First, while the hardware is HTC's, software is Facebook's (one that runs on Android).
 
O

otismotive77

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2013
467
0
brace yourselves, another flop facebook phone is coming :rolleyes:
if facebook really wants their phone to do well, they should introduce a high end phone.
 
Roessnakhan

Roessnakhan

macrumors 68040
Sep 16, 2007
3,518
510
ABQ
It's not a terrible phone. I bought one off eBay for about $150 as a backup phone and device to mess with Android. Turn off Facebook Home and you have a very capable midrange phone. Display is beautiful, battery is good, and I like that the body is really low key. The only part that sucks is the camera and the fact that it'll probably never see another Android update ever again. But without Home on, it is practically a stock Android experience.
 
co.ag.2005

co.ag.2005

macrumors 68020
Jun 17, 2009
2,363
1,809
Fort Worth, TX
Even though First and Facebook's app did flop (IMO), I'm not suprised the phone sold out at this price point. At $.99, this phone is a decent, mid-tier Android phone for those in the market for such a thing. You can turn off Facebook Home and end up with a decent vanilla Android phone. I think there were lots of people in that particular market. I for one, would never buy it, but as shown by the sales numbers, plenty of people did.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/9/4206176/htc-first-review-facebook-phone
 
Greg.

Greg.

macrumors 6502
Sep 12, 2010
404
54
London, UK
Good mid-level phone, with pretty much stock Android on, as well as the ability to disable all of the Facebook features anyway. If AT&T had actually bothered to market it, it would have sold much better.
 
FirstNTenderbit

FirstNTenderbit

macrumors 6502
Jan 15, 2013
355
0
Atlanta
This is nothing new. They give away the 8GB iPhone for free as well. They simply want to move unsold inventory.

As for the FB phone... turn off the FB feature and you have a decent mid range phone.
 
firestarter

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
Why don't Americans understand that a 'free' phone is paid for by the monthly contract they signed?

In the rest of the world it's easy to get phones unbundled from contracts - and also, contracts are available with different monthly costs so you can choose the balance of paying up front vs more per month.

*sigh*
 
bushido

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
2,755
Germany
firestarter said:
Why don't Americans understand that a 'free' phone is paid for by the monthly contract they signed?

In the rest of the world it's easy to get phones unbundled from contracts - and also, contracts are available with different monthly costs so you can choose the balance of paying up front vs more per month.

*sigh*
Click to expand...

Its not like they have much of a choice
 
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