HTC First sales so poor that AT&T are discontinuing it, report reveals

The HTC First, the affordable Android smartphone that puts Facebook front and centre by coming pre-loaded with the Facebook Home operating system reskin, is reportedly selling so badly that AT&T are considering discontinuing sales of the handset.

Launching on April 12, the HTC First has been sold just 15,000 times as of last week, according to BGR, with AT&T supposedly now preparing to send the remaining stock back to HTC.

This is despite AT&T’s best efforts, with the US network cutting the handset price to a mere $0.99 (£0.64) on two year contracts. But even that hasn’t been enough to inspire a sales rush, with AT&T now just waiting until an in-store display contract on the handset expires before pulling the plug.

The HTC First is the first (and so far only – and likely it seems to stay that way) handset to come with Facebook Home pre-loaded, revealed onstage by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April alongside the unveiling of Facebook Home.

However, despite being downloaded over 1 million times by Android users with compatible handsets, it has not proved universally popular, sitting with just a 2 out of 5 star score on the Google Play Store. Facebook Home’s focus on the social network actually necessitates a drop in functionality for the Android OS, which has put off many potential users.