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Solana Labs Is Building a Web3 Mobile Phone

source-logo  coindesk.com 23 June 2022 15:00, UTC

The Solana network is getting its own mobile phone: “Saga” an Android handset by the blockchain’s key stakeholder, Solana Labs.

The upcoming device – a modified OSOM handset with specialty crypto wallet functions and the “Solana Mobile Stack (SMS)” software development kit for Web3 programs – was announced Thursday at a New York City event. It will cost around $1,000 and begin delivery in early 2023, said Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko.

The phone marks Solana’s biggest bet yet on mobile-focused growth. It will feature a Web3 dapp store, integrated “Solana Pay” to facilitate QR code-based on-chain payments, a mobile wallet adapter and a “seed vault” that will store private keys deep within the recesses of the phone.

“We live our lives on our mobile devices – except for Web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management,” Yakovenko, the Solana co-founder, said in a press release. “The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open source, secure, optimized for web3, and easy to use.”

The Solana Foundation pledged $10 million toward spurring the development of mobile apps on its SMS.

It’s not the first Web3 smartphone gambit. Sirin Labs pursued plans in 2018 to ship a blockchain-native phone but faced layoffs and litigation as the product failed to gain traction.

coindesk.com