Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T to Discontinue 'Facebook Phone' HTC First?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,490
30,731



AT&T is planning to discontinue the HTC First, better known as the "Facebook Phone," reports BGR. Released on April 12, the HTC First was touted as the first device to come with Facebook Home preinstalled, a feature that has not enticed buyers to purchase the phone.
Our source at AT&T has confirmed that the HTC First, which is the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home pre-installed, will soon be discontinued and unsold inventory will be returned to HTC. How much unsold inventory is there? We don't have an exact figure, but things aren't looking good. According to our source, AT&T sold fewer than 15,000 units nationwide through last week when the phone's price was slashed to $0.99.
Click to expand...
When contacted, an AT&T spokesperson gave MacRumors the following statement in regards to BGR's report: "As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans."

The Facebook Home software, which can be installed on a number of Android devices, has also proven to be unpopular with Android users. The app has a two star rating in the Google Play store and has seen just a million downloads since it was released last month.

home.jpg
Facebook is hoping to drive additional downloads with an upcoming software update, which was demoed last week at a small press event. The upgrades are intended to make Facebook Home less intrusive, reports the LA Times, namely by making apps easier to find with a quick access dock at the bottom of the home screen.
The upgrades were designed to address the chief complaint from users: that Facebook takes over the phone at the expense of every other app on it.

Facebook's director of product, Adam Mosseri, said Chat Heads -- little bubble pictures of friends -- have proved popular but users have complained it's tough to initiate a conversation. He showed off a new feature that will let users more easily access a buddy list from Home.
Click to expand...
According to Engadget, a large portion of Facebook Home's installs can be attributed to early adopters. At the aforementioned press event, Facebook execs declined to reveal how many active Facebook Home users exist, but did reveal that Home encouraged users to spend 25% more time on Facebook.

Facebook has brought limited Home functionality to iOS with the introduction of Chat Heads into its iOS app, and has talked to Apple about the possibility of bringing additional Facebook Home features to the iPhone in the future.

Article Link: AT&T to Discontinue 'Facebook Phone' HTC First?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/05/13/att-to-discontinue-facebook-phone-htc-first/
ugahairydawgs

ugahairydawgs

macrumors 68030
Jun 10, 2010
2,959
2,457
So a phone that takes one app vendor and puts them front and center is not wildly popular?
 
nutmac

nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
6,053
7,315
Facebook Home is a clear example of what could happen when you put in a pool of extremely talented folks, narrow marketing direction (they should have designed it to appeal to both non-Facebook and Facebook users), and too little time to implement it all.
 
spazzcat

spazzcat

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2007
3,663
4,759
Like I said when it came out, FB was talking about how people use FB 25% of the time on their phone, but they forgot that means people use their phone for something other then FB 75% of the time...
 
Popeye206

Popeye206

macrumors 68040
Sep 6, 2007
3,148
836
NE PA USA
Yeah... too bad Apple didn't allow this on the iPhone... then Wall Street would have something else to go negative on! :rolleyes:

Not surprised here.
 
M

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
AT&T knows exactly what they are doing. They are so large, with so much data to rely on, they are not one to procrastinate.

It is either worth keeping in the lineup or it's not. That simple.
 
S

sigamy

macrumors 65816
Mar 7, 2003
1,392
181
NJ USA
All that was missing from this launch was HTC or Facebook or AT&T saying, "we are doubling down on Facebook Home".
 
Xenomorph

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,397
829
St. Louis
From what I read, this ships with Android 4.1.2 and lets you turn off Facebook Home to get the stock Android interface.

It sounds like a nice phone. 1GB RAM, Android 4.1+, 4.3" LCD (not comically huge like so many other devices), and LTE support.

HTC is apparently killing this thing after just ONE month. It was released on April 12th, 2013.

HTC has a history of dumping tons of phones on people, then not supporting them. They won't get a lot of customers doing this.
The "Facebook" name brought this story to the front page. Without Facebook, most would have never heard of this device. In reality, it's just another sad story of an abandoned Android device.
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
I am shocked, shocked I say, that this didn't pan out.:eek:

</s>

sparrky, wish I could give you more than 1 upvote.
 
Patriot24

Patriot24

macrumors 68030
Dec 29, 2010
2,813
805
California
I'm just going to go ahead and bookmark this for next time when I see someone screaming for deeper integration of Facebook into iOS.
 
B

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,520
2,821
Manhattan
I'm thrilled. People are finally pushing back a little against facebooks intrusiveness in their lives. 15K handsets is sad--that's so few it actually might become a collectors item someday. Antiques Roadshow!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom