Solana has just announced its latest and shiny smartphone, called “Seeker” — it costs half as much as the previous generation and, according to the development team, doesn’t rely solely on free memecoins.
The Saga was launched to little fanfare in May last year. Initially, the phone was met with criticism from tech pundits and crypto enthusiasts alike. However, the Saga was saved by a 1,000% surge in the price of a memecoin called Bonk (BONK) in December, which caused the device to sell out by December 16.
And it seems Solana hasn't forgotten that.
With this new release, Solana expects to give the 140,000 users who pre-ordered for $450 to $500 access to similar rewards.
Speaking with TinTucBitcoin at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, Emmett Hollyer, CEO at Solana Labs, said Seeker will be “a rewards magnet” for users but stressed that it is more than just a “memecoin phone.”
Preview image of Solana Seeker 2. Source: Solana Mobile
“Seeker, like Saga, will be a reward magnet, but at the same time, it’s also a huge opportunity for teams to build entirely new experiences,” Hollyer said, noting that the new device will feature an upgraded decentralized application ( DApp ) store and improved hardware.
“This is not a memecoin phone. It will enable all the great use cases on the network, whether it's Memecoin or DeFi , payments or gaming.”
Hollyer expressed hope that an open and unrestricted DApp store will allow developers to quickly launch and deploy new applications to Seeker users, capturing emerging stories and use cases.
New hardware, is it enough?
Solana also hopes that better hardware will attract buyers.
Solana 's Saga was criticized last year for its technical capabilities compared to devices like the iPhone or Google Pixel.
Hollyer said the phone will have a higher-quality display, better camera, and upgraded battery, making it “lighter, brighter, and better” than the previous generation, but didn’t go into details.
However, Hollyer explained that Solana does not intend to directly compete with mobile industry giants like Apple and Samsung; instead, they are focused on creating a device that brings as much crypto utility to users as possible in a handheld format.
“We have a different target set, a different set of users. But fortunately, a lot of high-end phone hardware has become more and more accessible as time has gone on,” Hollyer said.
Still, those hoping for a memecoin profit may need to wait a bit longer.
According to data from Solana ’s Airdrop tracker, the current value of the Token Airdrop to Seeker users stands at just over $265 at the time of publication, a figure far below the $1,350 of Airdrop locked up on Saga.
Hollyer argues that while rewards are a key part of the new device’s marketing strategy, Seeker will aim to provide users with a range of new crypto-integrated experiences.
“Rewards are part of the story, but I think a lot of [users] are starting to see the direction things are headed.”
Seeker's current Airdrop value is $266. Source: TwoLoot
“It's important to us that everything that happens on Solana happens on Seeker, so we want to keep an open app store,” Hollyer said.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for whatever the next story is, whatever the next use case is — there could be dozens of apps offering the same use case in our store in just a few days.”
“With a zero-fee app store, it brings a type of crypto-friendly innovation that just isn’t possible on Apple and Google, and many users are eager to XEM what applications this ecosystem will develop,” said Hollyer.
Hollyer notes that Google and Apple’s app store policies simply don’t meet the requirements for fostering innovation for crypto apps, especially when it comes to Token launch platforms like pump.fun, which offers the groundbreaking memecoin.
“With Apple and Google's policies, things like Token launch platforms will never work. The economics don't work because giving up 30% of the Token at launch and just passing the XEM process is almost impossible,” he said.
Hollyer said he expects Seeker to be home to a variety of Token launch platforms, Memecoin or otherwise, and said Seeker's hardware will have integrations to enhance the use and development of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) applications like Helium and Infield.
