CCN.com spoke with Nimrod May to find out if SIRIN will continue making phones or focus on developing an OS. May also gave a side-by-side comparison of the SIRIN FINNEY and the HTC Exodus 1.

SIRIN Labs launched its blockchain smartphone, the FINNEY, just a few weeks ago. In the middle of a cryptocurrency market crisis, SIRIN’s plans hit the spotlight and led some to question if the $158 million ICO would abandon its plans to make cryptocurrency-friendly phones and concentrate instead on the SIRIN operating system (SIRIN OS).

Recent reporting by some news outlets suggested that the fall in the price of Ether (ETH) since SIRIN’s ICO meant the company now had less available capital and would struggle to meet its initial goals of becoming both a phone and OS maker. That’s since been clarified and SIRIN Labs is committed to making its own blockchain smartphones AND ALSO exploring the market for its SIRIN OS with other phone-makers. May hinted at some of the big-name manufacturers SIRIN has been in talks with.

SIRIN’s CEO Moshe Hogeg revealed recently that mobile phone distributors had committed to 160,000 units of the FINNEY phone, though this figure needs to translate into actual sales, SIRIN only has to sell around 80,000 phones to become profitable.

CCN.com questioned May, Chief Marketing Officer for SIRIN Labs, to get to the bottom of the company’s plans once and for all.

How are sales of the FINNEY phone going? What is SIRIN’s attitude to “crypto-winter” and what steps are you taking to combat market concerns?

Even with the current market situation, we’re actually proud to share with the world some of the interest we have received since our launch two weeks ago. We’re proud to say we have surpassed our FINNEY™ devices sales goal for the entire year in less than 10 days, and right now are focusing on mass producing the first ten thousand units to meet the demands of our community, distributors, and partners.

What’s happening right now with SIRIN OS? Is it ready to roll out as a standalone OS? Do you have any takers?

We at SIRIN LABS have strong faith in crypto and blockchain and are proud to provide the consumer facing solution that will act as a gate to crypto. FINNEY™ is the optimum platform and ecosystem to use and manage crypto on the go, through the first ultra-secure Android platform. SIRIN OS™’ proprietary technology is the best operating system that is compatible with other devices as well, in efforts to bridge the gap across consumer electronic companies and to benefit the millions of crypto holders all over the world. We built SIRIN OS™ to fit all phone manufacturers and indeed we’re not alone in this field: Huawei, HTC, and other OEMs alike are moving along; some of them have been in talks with us regarding SIRIN OS™. Overall it seems like this is just the beginning of our path. We’re a group of enthusiastic and highly skilled engineers who understand the market, are an active part of it, and know what needs to be done in order to serve the needs of the market in real time. As a result, we’re now speeding up the process of accepting Fiat in our Token Conversion Service to create a more comprehensive solution for our users and to show the world that the need for a blockchain phone goes beyond what the crypto market is experiencing right now.

What are SIRIN’s plans for the next 6-12 months and what are your expectations for the cryptocurrency market in 2019?

Our plan for 2019 is to focus on the delivery of FINNEY™ worldwide, fostering more partnerships, continuing the development of SIRIN OS™.

HTC has released the Exodus 1 at the same time as the SIRIN FINNEY. How do you believe the phones compare?

May kindly provided SIRIN’s side-by-side comparison of FINNEY™ to the HTC EXODUS 1.

General HTC Exodus 1 FINNEY U1 Launched market US, Canada Worldwide Form factor Touchscreen Touchscreen Battery capacity (mAh) 3500 3280 Fast charging Proprietary Qualcomm Quickcharge 4.0 Wireless charging No No Display Screen size (inches) 6 6 Touchscreen Yes Yes Aspect ratio 18:09 18:09 Pixels per inch (PPI) 402 402 Hardware Processor octa-core octa-core Processor make Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 RAM 6GB 6GB Internal storage 128GB 128GB Expandable storage Yes Yes Expandable storage type microSD microSD Expandable storage up to (GB) 2 2 Camera Rear camera 12-megapixel + 16-megapixel 12-megapixel (f/1.8) Front camera 8-megapixel + 8-megapixel 8-megapixel (f/2.2) Rear autofocus – Laser autofocus Rear flash – Yes Software Operating system Android Oreo Android Oreo Skin HTC Sirin OS Connectivity Wi-Fi Yes Yes GPS Yes Yes Bluetooth Yes, v 5.00 Yes, v 5.00 Number of SIMs 1 1 Wi-Fi standards supported 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac NFC Yes Yes Sensors Proximity sensor Yes Yes Accelerometer Yes Yes Ambient light sensor Yes Yes Gyroscope Yes Yes Sim 1 SIM Type Nano-SIM Nano-SIM HW Wallet Type Software True Cold Storage Solution TrustZone / Trusted UI MCU + Secure Element + FPGA + Secondary Display Blockchain Features Tokens Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC20 (25 tokens), and ERC721 Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, ERC721 Dapp Store No dCENTER Token Conversion No Yes Cyber Protection Features – IPS, IDS Hardened OS No Yes

CCN.com also attended the FINNEY’s release party in Barcelona, Spain, in late November and was able to spend some hands-on time with the SIRIN FINNEY. CCN.com was able to take a close look at the blockchain phone with its safe-screen and native cryptocurrency cold-storage wallet, native cryptocurrency exchange, decentralized application (dApp) store, and Android-based SIRIN OS.

The HTC Exodus 1 was demonstrated in early December at Slush 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. CCN.com is also talking to HTC’s Phil Chen for his insight on the market, HTC’s plans, and the performance of the Exodus 1 so far.

Featured image from Shutterstock. Nimrod May photograph from Twitter.