Facebook Phone Is Now Just 99 Cents

This is not a good sign. Barely a month into the first "Facebook Phone's" life, the Facebook Home-sporting HTC First price has been slashed from $99.99 with a two year contract to just 99 cents with the same AT&T two-year agreement.

AT&T's own web site makes the situation look, if possible, worse, by displaying the original HTC First price, $350.99 and subtracting $350. That's a 99.72% discount.

While this is great news for anyone who wants an attractive, workman-like 4G phone with Facebook Home built in at a cut-rate price, it does not bode well for this first HTC/Facebook collaboration and future Facebook Phones.

To put this in perspective, Apple iPhone and top Android handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S series typically don't see price reductions until new versions are announced or ship from manufacturers. The iPhone 5 has been at $199.99 (with a two year contract) since it shipped last fall. Its predecessor, the iPhone 4s, now sells for $99 (with a two year contract). That's a 50% reduction, and it didn't happen for well over a year. Similarly, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 about to ship to customers, the still-popular S3 is now selling for $99. Again, a 50% markdown.

99% after just a month is almost unheard of and smells of Microsoft Kin-level disinterest. That phone, unveiled with much hullabaloo by Microsoft was pretty much dead on arrival and Microsoft quickly switched gears to the more popular Windows Phone platform.

While this might seem like an unfortunate turn of events for the nascent Android Launcher, a.k.a.Facebook Home, Facebook representatives told Mashable, "We think this is a good move by AT&T." So much so that the social media giant is promoting the deal on Facebook in this post.

To be clear, a select set of Android Phone owners can download Facebook Home on their own phones — no need to buy the HTC First to experience Facebook's take on an social smartphone start screen. At least a half million people have downloaded the launcher so far.

AT&T representatives told Mashable that the current promotion, which is available online and in stores, should not be seen as unusual. "We do promotions like this all the time. (i.e., Lumia 920 is currently free in same channels)." (We found the 920 for $99.) As for how the HTC First has been selling thus far, "We don’t comment on results of individual manufacturer handset sales." AT&T also couldn't say how long the promotion would last.

HTC echoed AT&T, but offered no new information, telling Mashable, "Promotional pricing is common in the mobile industry. AT&T does promotions like this all the time. HTC doesn't comment on sales outside of our official financial announcements.”

There is the chance that the new drastically reduced price could generate a flood of new interest and customers for the HTC First. Remember, Blackberry (formerly RIM) essentially gave awayBlackberry Curves to corner the youth market — at least for a little while

Would you pay 99 cents for an HTC First with Facebook Home? 

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