Report: AT&T Discontinuing HTC First After Facebook Home Fails To Impress

Home is not where AT&T is?

Home is not where AT&T is?

Some called it the first “Facebook phone,” some called it by its name, the HTC First, and now there are those calling the whole joint venture between Facebook and AT&T a flop. According to one report making the rounds today, AT&T is getting ready to drop the HTC First after reportedly poor sales.

BGR’s Zach Epstein is citing inside sources who say that the HTC First, which shipped with Facebook Home pre-installed, will soon be off the market. Any unsold inventory will reportedly be returned to AT&T.

If this report turns out to be true, we wouldn’t be totally shocked. Only a month after the HTC First was debuted with much ado and ballyhoo, AT&T cut its price from $99 to only $0.99 last week.

And even that didn’t help perk up sales, according to BGR’s source, who says AT&T sold fewer than 15,000 units across the country through last week.

Will Home be able to survive without its dedicated phone? It’s unclear — a few weeks ago we noted the plethora of negative reviews out there decrying the usability of Home, with users saying it’s not so easy to use:  “Not intuitive and it makes my phone butt ugly,” writes another.

It’s likely that if the HTC First is destined for the garbage bin, AT&T will first try to sell off as many as it can, hence, the $0.99 price. And if no one is installing Home on their other Android devices, that could signal the end of Mark Zuckerberg’s quest for the Holy Facebook Phone Grail as well.

An AT&T spokesperson tells Consumerist: “As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans.”

No Home for Facebook at AT&T: HTC First to be discontinued  [BGR]

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