Solana has just revealed its newest, shiniest smartphone, “Seeker” — it’s half the cost of its predecessor, and, according to the team, won’t just lean on free memecoins.
Saga was launched to little fanfare in May last year. Initially buffeted by poor reviews from tech pundits and crypto users alike, Saga was arguably saved by a sudden 1,000% rally in the price of a memecoin called Bonk (BONK) in December, causing the device to sell out on Dec. 16.
And Solana seemingly hasn’t forgotten about it.
1/ We’ve been deep in build mode for months, and we’re excited to show you what we've been working on.
— Seeker | Solana Mobile (@solanamobile) September 19, 2024
Introducing the next chapter of Solana Mobile: the Solana Seeker 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/2UW3Wqhymw
For its new version, Solana is looking to offer 140,000 users who have already paid between $450 and $500 to pre-order Seeker access to similar rewards.
Speaking to Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore, Emmett Hollyer, General Manager at Solana Labs, said Seeker would be a “rewards magnet” for users but stressed that it wouldn’t just be the “memecoin phone.”
“Seeker, just like Saga, will be a rewards magnet, but also, it’s a huge opportunity for teams to build totally new experiences,” said Hollyer, noting that the new device would feature an upgraded decentralized app (DApp) store and upgraded hardware as well.
“It’s not the memecoin phone. It’s going to enable all of the great use cases on the network, whether that is memecoins or DeFi or payments or games.”
Hollyer said he hopes an open and unrestricted DApp store will allow developers to quickly launch and deploy new applications to Seeker users to better capture emerging narratives and use cases.
New hardware, is it enough?
Solana is also hoping better hardware will entice buyers.
Solana’s Saga was criticized last year over its technical capabilities compared to devices like the iPhone or the Google Pixel.
Hollyer says the phone will have a higher-quality screen, better cameras, and an upgraded battery, making it “lighter, brighter, and better” than its predecessor, without elaborating further.
Solana Labs GM Emmett Hollyer at TOKEN2049. Source: Cointelegraph
However, Hollyer explained that Solana wasn’t looking to compete directly with other mobile device giants like Apple and Samsung; instead, it focused on creating a device that offered as much crypto utility to users as possible in a handheld format.
“We have a different set of goals, a different set of users. But fortunately, a lot of the high-end phone hardware has become more and more available as years have gone up,” said Hollyer.
Still, those hoping for a memecoin payday may still need to wait and see.
According to data from Solana mobile airdrop checker TwoLoot, the current value of tokens airdropped to users of the Seeker device stands at just over $265 at the time of publication, a far cry from the $1,350 of airdrops locked on the Saga.
Hollyer argued that while rewards are a vital part of the new device’s sales pitch, Seeker will look to offer its users a wide range of new crypto-integrated experiences.
“Rewards are a part of the story, but I think a lot of [users] started to see the direction things are headed.”
Seeker airdrops are currently worth $266. Source: TwoLoot
“What’s important to us is that whatever happens on Solana happens on Seeker, and so we want to keep an open app store,” Hollyer said.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for whatever the next narrative is, whatever the next use case is — there can be a dozen apps offering that same use case in our store within days.”
“With a zero-fee App Store, it offers a crypto-friendly type of innovation that just can’t get through on Apple and Google, and a lot of users are excited to see what apps the ecosystem steps up,” said Hollyer.
Related: Solana liquid staking could 5x to $18B on retail investor adoption
Hollyer noted that the app store policies put in place by Google and Apple simply aren’t up to the task of fostering innovation for crypto apps, particularly when it comes to token launchpads such as breakthrough memecoin deployer pump.fun.
“With Apple and Google policies, things like token launchpads would just never work. The economics won’t work because giving up 30% of a token at launch and even just getting through the review process is effectively impossible,” he said.
Hollyer added he expects Seeker to be home to a “ton” of token launchpads, memecoins or otherwise, adding that Seeker’s hardware would feature integrations to enhance the use and development of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) apps such as Helium and Infield.
Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins