FIH Mobile Ltd, a subsidiary of Foxconn, one of the foremost contract manufacturing companies in the electronics & media industry, has made it to the headlines for its latest significant announcement. The company declared that it will be helping to develop and build a blockchain smartphone from a Swiss-Israeli technology firm Sirin Labs. Reportedly, the phone is likely to appeal largely to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, as it is designed to use digital currencies such as bitcoin.
Reports reveal that the Android-based smartphone, which is christened as Finney, will be able to automatically convert tokens that are used for decentralized applications and secure storage for crypto wallet keys.
As reported by Bloomberg, Finney is slated to start shipping from October this year with a price tag of around USD 1000. It will be initially available at eight new stores in popular crypto hotspots Turkey and Vietnam. The smartphone may eventually be sold via mobile carriers, revealed Sirin CEO Moshe Hogeg.
In a company statement, Sirin Labs notified that so far more than 25,000 Finney’s have been preordered, based on which the company has estimated its 2018 sales target in the range of 100,000 to a few million.
If industry experts are to be believed, such ongoing developments in the electronics & media industry are certain to push cryptocurrency market share over the coming years. The products such as Finney are probable to fill a gap of secure devices in the market that can in turn simplify cryptocurrency applications.
As per reliable sources, in an initial coin offering, Sirin Labs raised around USD 157 million in December 2017, in a bid to support the development of blockchain smartphone as well as blockchain PC project.
Sources anticipated that the price for Finney could fall possibly to as low as USD 200, as the Switzerland-based company will be soon licensing Finney’s technical specifications to other leading phone makers.
