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For years, President Trump has had a famous affinity for his personal cell phone. Hes been known to rely on the device to contact world leaders, arrange business deals, and answer calls from a flurry of daily unknown numbers often in spite of potential security threats. Early this month, The Atlantic called him the ultimate Phone Guy in an article detailing his aides concerns around his phone use. Now, The Trump Organization appears to be spinning Trumps Phone Guy reputation into yet another business venture: a mobile service and smartphone brand called Trump Mobile. According to a press release published Monday, Trump Mobilealso known as T1 Mobileis a new cellular service designed to deliver top-tier connectivity, unbeatable value and all-American service. The release notes that the brand will provide 5G service through all three major cellular carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon). Its flagship offering, The 47 Plan, costs $47.75 per month and includes features like roadside assistance, unlimited data, and telehealth services. Alongside the cellular plan, Trump Mobile is debuting a $499 gold smartphone called the T1 Phone, slated for release this fall. Gold all the way down Customers can sign up for the brands cellular service plan and pre-order the upcoming Trump-branded phone on the Trump Mobile website. The site itself features an ultra-simple, almost bare-bones designincluding a blocky, all-caps sans-serif font, gold accents, and several stock images of smiling customers. Along a similar vein, available renderings of the T1 Phone include a mocked-up home screen with the slogan Make America Great Again rendered beneath a Trump Mobile logo, as well as the back of the phone, which is embossed with an image of the American flag and the T1 symbol. The phones operating system is an Android 15. While it’s unclear exactly how the phones gold hue has been achieved, the look echoes an emerging design theme from Trumps second term. In 2004, Trump told reporters that the reign of Louis XIV represented his favorite style, and since taking office this January, echoes of that gilded inspiration have appeared in several places around the President. In the Oval Office itself, Trump has implemented a slew of gold decor. Last month, he accepted a luxury jet from Qatar thats decked out in gold furniture. And last week, Trump debuted a physical gold card visa scheme as a dubious way to allow wealthy immigrants into the U.S. Now, the T1 Phone, like the countless other pieces of Trump merch before it, will serve as a piece of walking advertising for the President’s personal brand. Blurred lines between office and profit The Trump Organizations new phone business is the most recent in a large existing catalog of licensing deals and branded-merch agreements that rely on the Presidents likenessfrom guitars and Bibles, to watches, sneakers, and fragrances. According to a financial disclosure form filed last Friday, these income streams represented more than $8 million in profits for the President in 2024. In order to avoid potential conflicts of interest, The Trump Organization (which manages the majority of Trumps business ventures) reported ahead of Trumps inauguration that control of the company would be given to his children for the duration of his term. Based on the press release, Trump Mobile will be spearheaded by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. And, because the brand uses the Trump name through a trademark license, its website notes that its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. Still, experts say there are still plenty of ethical concerns around Trumps business ventures. This term, Trump stands to profit from holdings in cryptocurrency, real estate, social media, and consumer products, all of which are bolstered by his status as President. In an interview with Reuters, Paolo Pescatore, TMT analyst at PP Foresight, explained that this new cellular business presents new questions, given that Trump Mobiles actual commercial relationship with telecom players is unclear. In a series of interviews this morning, Trumps sons indicated that Trump Mobile phones would be American-made, with a call center located in St. Louis, Missouri. This emphasis on American manufacturing, echoed on the website, comes in the wake of Trumps sweeping tariffs, which has put phone manufacturing in its crosshairs, given that most phones (and phone components) purchased in the U.S. are made in China, Vietnam, South Korea, and India. Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to Fast Companys request for clarification on the phones manufacturers, designers, and distributors. “No one who has been paying attention could miss that President Trump considers the presidency a vehicle to grow his family’s wealth, Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard Law School, told Reuters of Trump Mobile. Maybe this example will help more come to see this undeniable truth.
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E-Commerce
Leaders from the Group of Seven nations began annual talks on Monday with wars escalating in Ukraine and the Middle East, as U.S. President Donald Trump said removing Russia from the former Group of Eight was a mistake. The G7 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.S., along with the European Union, are convening in the resort area of Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies until Tuesday. With an escalating Israel-Iran conflict, the summit in Canada is seen as a vital moment to try to restore a semblance of unity among democratic powerhouses. In an early sign that they may struggle to reach agreement on key issues, a U.S. official said Trump would not sign a draft statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict. Speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said kicking Russia out of the former Group of Eight was a mistake. Members removed Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea. “This was a big mistake,” Trump said. “You wouldn’t have that war. You know you have your enemy at the table, I don’t even consider, he wasn’t really an enemy at that time.” Canada has abandoned any effort to adopt a comprehensive communique to avert a repeat of the 2018 summit in Quebec, when Trump instructed the U.S. delegation to withdraw its approval of the final communique after leaving. Leaders have prepared several other draft documents seen by Reuters, including on migration, artificial intelligence, and critical mineral supply chains. None of them have been approved by the United States, however, according to sources briefed on the documents. Europeans are on the same page on most issues, a European diplomat said. But without Trump, it is unclear if there will be any declarations, the diplomat said. The first five months of Trump’s second term upended foreign policy on Ukraine, raised anxiety over his closer ties to Russia, and resulted in tariffs on U.S. allies. Talks on Monday will centre around the economy, advancing trade deals, and China. Efforts to reach an agreement to lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil, even if Trump decided to opt out, were complicated by a temporary surge in oil prices since Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 12, two diplomatic sources said. Oil prices fell on Monday on reports Iran was seeking a truce. The escalation between the two regional foes is high on the agenda, with diplomatic sources saying they hope to urge restraint and a return to diplomacy and would encourage Trump to sign a declaration. “I do think there’s a consensus for de-escalation. Obviously, what we need to do today is to bring that together and to be clear about how it is to be brought about,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters. Russian elephant in the room Further highlighting the unease among some of Washington’s allies, Trump spoke on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested the Russian leader could play a mediation role between Israel and Iran. French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the idea, arguing that Moscow could not be a negotiator because it had started an illegal war against Ukraine. A European diplomat said Trump’s suggestion showed that Russia was very much on U.S. minds. “In the eyes of the U.S., there’s no condemnation for Ukraine; no peace without Russia; and now even credit for its mediation role with Iran. For Europeans, this will be a really tough G7,” the diplomat said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will attend the summit on Tuesday. European officials said they hoped to use the meeting and next week’s NATO summit to convince Trump to toughen his stance on Putin. “The G7 should have the objective for us to converge again, for Ukraine to get a ceasefire to lead to a robust and lasting peace, and in my view it’s a question of seeing whether President Trump is ready to put forward much tougher sanctions on Russia,” Macron said. By David Ljunggren, John Irish and Jarrett Renshaw, Reuters Additional reporting by Suzanne Plunket.
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E-Commerce
You can stay at Trump hotels, play golf at Trump courses, and could, for a short time in 2007, buy Trump steaks. But MAGA-maniacs now have a new tchotchke they can buy to support the 47th U.S. president: a $499 cell phone sold by the Trump Organization, the family business run by the presidents son, Donald Trump Jr. The device will run on a specialist Trump Mobile network. We are going to be introducing an entire package of products where people can come and they can get telemedicine on their phones for one flat monthly fee, roadside assistance on their cars, unlimited texting to 100 countries around the world, Trump Jr. said at a press conference held at Trump Tower in New York on Monday. The phone will launch in September, with subscriptions to the mobile network priced at $47.45 per montha pointed reference to the presidents two terms in office. The announcement has left mobile experts puzzled. This latest move raises more questions than answers, says Paolo Pescatore, technology, media and telecoms analyst at PP Foresight. He notes that many details remain unclear, particularly how Trump Mobile will serve its customers given indications it will rely on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile networksthe three major mobile operators in the U.S. As always, the devil is in the detail given that it is unclear around the actual commercial relationship with the telecom players and so forth, Pescatore says, therefore, it is a bit unclear what the impact will be on the market. Horace Dediu, an independent smartphone industry analyst, is similarly unconvinced. Its a bit of a throwback to a thing that was popular 10 or 15 years ago, he says. Its kind of a marketing idea above all. Trump Mobile would be an MVNOa mobile virtual network operatorwhich, at present, doesnt own any of its own infrastructure. That may be intentional, considering the risks involved. The puzzle to me is why are they resurrecting this idea from, like, 10 years ago and trying to milk a little bit of extra money out of this, Dediu says. MVNOs have minimal presence in the U.S. smartphone market, holding less than a 5% share. The major providersVerizon, AT&T, and T-Mobiledominate, and they will supply the actual infrastructure for Trump phones. Even the device itself may face an uphill battle. Apple maintains a commanding market share in the U.S., and the Android model Trump Mobile plans to offer is likely to appeal more to middle- and low-income consumers. While that may align with Trumps political base, it doesnt necessarily reflect his typical brand audience. Its a bit of a puzzler, says Dediu. Then again, there might be a population of Trump fans who are willing to spend on anything Trump. Success is far from certain. I’m struggling to figure out why even the phone would make sense, Dediu says. While some profit could be made on hardware sales, he notes that branding might allow a $200 device to be sold for $500, though the costs of servicing customers could quickly erode that margin. PP Foresight’s Pescatore notes that while Trump Mobile may run on the big three network providers, who control 95% of the market, those companies might not welcome the arrangement. We should expect to see backlash from a slew of stakeholders, as among other things they will perceive this as being a conflict of interest, he says. (Such conflicts arent new in Trumps world; the president recently promoted Teslas on the White House lawn.)
Category:
E-Commerce
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