Exclusive interview with the General Manager of Solana Mobile: How does the zero-fee Web3 phone Seeker initiate a flywheel effect?

Author: Token Relations

Compiled by: Tim, PANews

In this month's new episode of the Solana Sessions interview series, we interviewed Emmett Hollyer, the General Manager of Solana Mobile.

Solana Mobile is an innovative project launched by Solana Labs, dedicated to deeply integrating crypto-native features into smartphones. The newly released Seeker phone is a practice of this concept, as this Android device comes with a built-in "Seed Vault" encryption wallet that securely stores private key mnemonic libraries and provides native support for decentralized applications through the Solana dApp store.

Solana Mobile is creating a product that offers a smoothness comparable to Web2 devices while integrating Web3 elements. We will delve into how this project enhances usability, security, and performance to provide a more user-friendly mobile Web3 experience for crypto users and developers, thereby driving the mobile transition of the Web3 ecosystem.

Exploring the New Era of Web3 Smartphones

Ordinary people are constantly staring at their smartphones, while crypto-native users cannot live without computer monitors. However, a major pain point of the current Web3 is that too many applications are not mobile-friendly.

Solana Mobile is trying to address this issue with the "Seeker," a phone designed to make it easier for people on the go to use crypto applications. Emmet Hollyer, General Manager of Solana Mobile, stated that this new phone is just over two years away from the launch of the flagship model, Saga, but it brings new design elements.

This phone has launched a brand new seed vault technology for protecting digital assets. Users can sign transactions through double tap + fingerprint scanning, and the operational logic is completely consistent with the authentication method of Apple Pay.

Hollyer said: "We want to make everything as simple and smooth as possible; you should feel no barriers when using Internet products, but when you start using crypto products, it often becomes fraught with difficulties."

Solana Seeker also hopes to make the development experience equally convenient and cost-effective. Hollyer stated that the Solana mobile dApp store gathers nearly a hundred mobile applications and allows for free deployment of apps. Unlike the various restrictions that may exist in traditional web app stores, the Solana Mobile store breaks the norm, enabling developers to fully unleash their creativity and truly experience decentralized features.

Hollyer added: "Our platform is extremely friendly to cryptocurrencies, developers do not need to overly concern themselves with marketing, nor do they need to hide crypto features, and we do not charge any fees. Our core focus is on supporting development teams to create excellent applications and successfully launch them."

The Seeker mobile app eliminates the common fee structure found in other mobile app stores. "The core idea behind many cryptocurrency innovations is to eliminate intermediaries between users and businesses," Hollyer stated, "charging a high commission fee of 30% is contrary to our ecological philosophy, and we firmly believe that we do not need to achieve our goals in this way."

The Solana Mobile department is fully committed to building Seeker into a "financial infrastructure" platform that goes beyond cryptocurrency devices. Operations Director Hollyer revealed that with the launch of "Seeker Season" in September, more dApps will go live. This phone, positioned as "financial infrastructure," is expanding inclusive financial scenarios by lowering the barriers to entry for developers. Whether it's about acquiring new users or developing applications, the Seeker phone will become the underlying channel that breaks industry barriers.

Hollyer pointed out: "If we can achieve a scenario where a batch of attractive and unique applications emerges, attracting more users to use their phones and increasing consumption, then the resulting flow of funds will create economic opportunities for developers, thereby attracting more developers to join." He also added that this flywheel effect will help users and developers jointly build a sustainable financial ecosystem.

Solana Seeker sales report

• 150,000 pre-sale orders
• 80% of orders come from regions outside the United States
• 10 tracks, 100 dApps
• Price: 500 USD

Solana Seeker hardware configuration

• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor
• 8GB RAM
• 128G storage space
• 6.36 inch AMOLED display, 460 PPI, 120 Hz