The Freedom Phone cheapens liberty, but Freedom shouldn't be Free.
"Value is created in the Human Head." -Rory Sutherland
I've been on a Rory Sutherland kick of late, so when I came across the conservative hyped, Freedom Phone the above quote played back like a recording in my mind. I'm a political agnostic, but I must admit I love myself a good marketing campaign.
The Freedom Phone is a device created by Gen Z Crypto Millionaire Erik Finman. It's a mobile phone that's selling point is that it brings free speech back to technology because it is "uncensorable". It has a censorship free app store, a privacy guard called Trust, and an operating system named Freedom OS.
I feel like this is a goldmine of an idea. Conservatives (and some liberals too) feel they are being unfairly censored on social media. Watching them attempt to go around a system built by Big Tech and fail again and again feels like watching your little cousin get pummeled by your Big Brother at the family reunion, but there is clearly a market for this technology. Naval Ravikant often says give society what it wants but does not know how to get at scale and the Freedom Phone is an idea that does this perfectly, but I noticed the phone has a major flaw.
It's too cheap.
$500 seems like a bargain in comparison to the $1,000 iPhone 12 Pro Max, or Samsung Galaxy S21, but it also signals something else, low quality. Historically technology has been used as a utility maximizing tool, in 2021 technology is a luxury and the mobile phone is our most prized luxury item. Now I've never held the phone, used it to scroll social media or played Fortnite on it but remember the quote I said earlier. Value doesn't come from a spreadsheet it comes from your mind.
On the Freedom Phone website they say "It does everything your current phone does, other than censor you." If that's true, why would you sell it at a discount? That sounds like something that commands a premium. No celebrity ever tried to save money on their bodyguard.
Coming off the Art of The Deal President, selling security at a bargain as the opening offer feels off brand. If the device flops, like all other attempts to take on Big Tech, and they asked me to save it I would tell them to put the price up and if people complained I would say:
"Freedom isn't free."
P.S. In terms of branding Finman did something completely right and it has nothing to do with freedom, censorship or the First Amendment, but I'll save that for another blog post.
