When you think at it, it's a nice idea: a smartphone that will also be your cold storage wallet, for your precious crypto tokens. But, hmmm, I don't know...
Let's start with the cold facts.
Sirin Labs, a Swiss based company, decided to pivot from their initial product, a luxury Android device, focused on security, called SOLARIN and priced, hold your breath, at $14,000. Each. Not $14,000 for a dozen. $14,000 each.
So they eventually pivoted because, according to an article published in TechCrunch in March this year, they sold only 700-750 devices, for a total under $10 millions. In this market, this is very, very little. Especially considering the company raised $72 millions in seed funding. Not much demand for luxury Android phones, with a penchant on security, isn't it?
Well, when they saw this is not really a market, they pivoted in a very different area: the blockchain. Since security was always a priority, they thought to integrate it to the level of, you know, a wallet.
The new product is still a phone, called FINNEY, this time and it will be available in 2019. There is an ICO starting in about 10 days, you can get more info at their website.
The team is impressive and, among the bakers, you will even find a former president of FC Barcelona (yes, the soccer club).
I'm not involved in this project, although I'm watching it closely and I find it interesting.
The execution must be impeccable, otherwise the problems generated by such a device could be an order of magnitude higher than the problems it solves.
I'm keeping an eye on it.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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