BGR is reporting that it has heard its “trusted” source that HTC First has been a huge failure and AT&T (sole telecom operator in the US selling this phone) is planning to discontinue it.
“Sales of the HTC First have been shockingly bad. So bad, in fact, that AT&T has already decided to discontinue the phone,” the source told BGR.
The first hint of HTC First failure was the recent price-cut by AT&T, following which the phone is now selling for 99 cents with a two year contract in US. AT&T had reportedly reduced price after the below-average performance of this “Facebook phone,” which clearly did not click with the consumers.
AT&T was first quiet about the HTC First disconsolation news, but considering the buzz the BGR report had generated, the telecom operator issued the following statement.
“As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans.”
As you can see, AT&T is ambiguous in its statement and has made little effort to supress the BGR report. It is still possible that we might see HTC First vanished from AT&T stores and online in the coming weeks.
BGR adds:
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.
Just to give you an idea of HTC First sales – According to BGR, in the last one week when HTC First was selling at just $0.99 with contract, AT&T sold just 15,000 units of the phone in US.
HTC First has decent reviews and thanks to the phone’s ability to switch to stock Android, it has been dubbed as a decent mid-range device, but seems like people still did not like the idea of a Facebook phone.
At least secure the concept of the 4.3″ inch screen as a take-away from the demise.