ZTE recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to basically see how democracy works when you’re trying to develop a new smartphone. The idea was to take ideas from backers about the functionality and specs they would like to see in a reasonably priced handset. The company acknowledged recently that so far the crowdfunded smartphone didn’t really have the specs to draw some real interest and that it was going to make significant changes. It’s now saying that the ZTE Hawkeye Kickstarter campaign will “most likely” be canceled.
ZTE VP of technology planning Jeff Yee told Mobile Syrup that the company will most likely cancel the Kickstarter campaign but it’s still open to improving the specs if that ends up generating some real interest. He mentioned that the company has realized that “Kickstarter people are early adopters therefore they want flagship specs.”
It has tried to improve some of the specifications while retaining the $199 price point but it doesn’t appear to be working out. There’s no clarity as yet on the changes that ZTE might make if it doesn’t ultimately decide to kill the campaign and launch another one that’s more in line with expectations.
“We’re doing everything with transparency and so early in the process that we can still change and shift,” he added.
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