Nextbit's Robin Phone, Which Taps Cloud for 100GB of Storage

Robin Smartphone Well-matched with Verizon Network

Nextbit, San-Francisco based, run by Google and HTC would be offering a version of its Robin smartphone which is well-matched with the Verizon network.The offer would start soon through its Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign according to an interview of the CEO of Nextbit, Tom Moss. The early version of the Robin had been compatible with only AT&T and T-Mobile networks. Robin had created a lot of disturbance through its standout feature of online storage and while the smartphone is provided with 32 gigabytes of internal storage, it would have about 100GB of storage on tapping into the cloud for added online resources.

Executive of Nextbits have implied that they would be able to use online access as well as storage for the improvement of phone in other ways over a period of time. The introduction of Verizon version has improved the customer base of Nexbit and Verizon is the largest wireless network of the nation. The announcement was made just two days after the company had hit the $1 million mark on its Kickstarter campaign, doubling its goal. The form of the Robin which tends to work with Verizon has been designed precisely for that network and is not augmented for AT&T or T-Mobile and it is not recommended to switch networks.

Verizon Type – Early Bird Special Price

The company is yet looking into a type for Sprint though the need to add extra frequency band tends to complicate the task. Moss has commented that they are figuring out whether they could make it work with Sprint. Moss together with co-founder Mike Chan had worked on Google’s Android software earlier when the company’s chief design and product officer, Scot Croyle, had led the development of the HTC One Smartphone.

Nextbit will provide the Verizon type and offer an early bird special price of $299 for the first 300 orders and the kickstarter price is $349. It would retail for $399 at its launch in January. The company also started a contest to enable Kickstarter backers to choose a colour combination for a special Kickstarer, only variant of the Robin. They could also propose colours. Nextbits would choose five, improve them and then enable the backers to vote. Presently the Robin comes in a combination of mint-white or dark blue `midnight’ colour.

Strategy to Challenge Traditional Players

The strategy of Nextbit is to challenge traditional players such as Apple and Samsung, where their products tend to sell easily, double the price. Crowdfunded devices continue to carry some risk and Robin can wind up going up in smoke though the chances for its success seams good. Presently, Nextbit seems to have the funding, a reputable manufacturer together with some excellent credentials like the former Google and HTC executives which includes the former lead designer of HTC.

Though nowhere near the scale of Apple or even HTC, Nextbit had been a success on Kickstarter and the company had mentioned that it intends to increase the cloud storage of Robin to 129GB if the backing tends to hit $1.5 million. Regarding the campaign, Moss had commented that it is amazing and that it is such a validation.