Solana made an announcement earlier today that they're launching the Saga 2, their second smartphone.
The first version of the phone flopped. But then, a series of airdrops made the phone a hot commodity and secondary market prices on platforms such as eBay sent the phone's price up and to the right. The phone itself comes with a soulbound NFT. Therefor, it is very easy for projects to get airdrops into the hands of Saga's owners, even as the phone changes owners.
Why would a project want to airdrop tokens to Saga owners anyways?
Owners of these phones are among the most hardcore crypto participants out there. They are also more likely to have more liquidity than your average person. For the right project, this is a highly desirable audience and customer base to attract. This part makes sense.
However, I wouldn't expect the Saga 2 to be a smash hit. I do think the price point of $450 is a strong move and makes it much more accessible versus the first version which sold for $1,000.
I also like that the blockchain industry is taking swings at bringing this technology to mobile. Web3 simply won't scale if it doesn't become mobile friendly across both the software and hardware side.
This could be a look into the future of airdrops
As more physical products are connected to tokens, it isn't hard to imagine how this would set the stage for a new wave of customer acquisition and growth marketing efforts. When people buy and hold physical products it says a lot about their lifestyle, interests, financial status, brand choices, etc.