The HTC First, which was made available exclusively from AT&T, turned out to be a flop. What started as a smartphone that was available on contract for $99 up front, ended up being sold in a fire sale for just $0.99. It was the first smartphone that shipped with Facebook Home pre-installed, and as interested in Facebook’s “people-centric” launcher dwindled, customers didn’t turn up in large numbers to purchase the First, which is essentially a mid-range Android smartphone.
HTC First’s European launch was indefinitely postponed soon after that, and it was rumored that perhaps AT&T would discontinue the device and return unsold inventory back to HTC. However CEO of the carrier revealed that they sold the entire inventory once they began the fire sale of offering it for just $0.99. Facebook has been rumored to be looking for other partners, so as to manufacture another ‘Facebook Phone.’ Its idea has reportedly been turned down by Samsung. It was also recently rumored that other manufacturers like Huawei, ZTE and Sony are no longer interested in developing Facebook Home enabled smartphones, after seeing how badly HTC First did in the market.
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