Solana Labs Terminates Saga Orders, Apologize for Overselling Phones

In an apologetic statement, Solana Labs confirmed the decision to cancel pending orders for its Saga smartphone, indicating overselling. The decision comes after Solana acknowledged surging demand for the Saga smartphone driven by the realization of underlying incentives that outvalued the gadget itself. 

Faulty Inventory Management Issue Led to Overselling Saga Smartphone

The decision portrays a wild week for the Solana ecosystem, whose native token, Sol, has taken the digital assets market by an unprecedented rally. In contrast, the Solana Saga smartphone plunged the ecosystem into a mixed-week performance, particularly with the device securing the worst phone of the 2023 award from a famous YouTuber. 

Buyers dismissed the disparaging award, moving in droves to buy the Saga smartphone upon discovering that it comes with invaluable crypto perks that surpass the device’s sticker price. 

The surging demand from customers seeking to tap into the crypto perks led to oversubscriptions that ultimately strangled the existing units. Solana Labs admits that several branches of the Saga Smartphone were nonexistent. 

Solana Labs revealed in its late Thursday, December 21 statement that the overselling was accidental and arose from an inventory management issue. The firm indicated that the Saga phone was out of stock and had several undisclosed orders pending fulfillment.  

Solana Labs blamed the overselling on a third-party distributor fault, though it declined to name the entity. The company indicated that affected customers were notified of the issue and will receive their refunds soon. 

At press time, none of the customers affected by the overstocking has publicly disclosed suffering from the error.  

Saga Smartphone Leverage Crypto Perk to Drive Demand

The Saga smartphone places the Solana Labs in an unimaginable twist. The device had witnessed middling sales until the previous week when the device began flying off the shelves. 

The sudden surge in the demand traces to intrepid consumers realizing that the Saga phone facilitated access to the Solana-based meme coin BONK in its looming 30 million airdrops. 

The BONK amount the Saga phone buyers earned translated to $11 months ago. However, the amount was worth $865 by last week owing to the wild BONK’s rise. The value of the crypto perk now surpasses the phone’s $599 price tag. 

The Saga owners who claimed the airdrop and free perk affiliated with the device have benefitted from tokens valued over $3000. Solana Labs achieved a pyrrhic victory, considering over 20,000 units were sold out within days. Smartphone reviewers termed the Saga a hit, though it was driven by the incentives affiliated with its acquisition. 

Solana Labs Saga Phone Wins Bust of the Year Award

The sudden reception of the Saga in the market led YouTuber Marques MKBHD Brownlee to name Saga the 2023 “Bust of the Year. ” The technology reviewer wrote to his millions of followers on X (formerly Twitter) that BONK amounts and Claynosaurz can save the device. 

Solana Labs seized the moments through attempts to pivot potential embarrassment through a tongue-in-cheek viral initiative. In particular, it designated the device for subsequent marketing activities as an award-winning smartphone. 

Solana Labs would request Brownlee to consider shipping the Bust of the Year trophy to the firm’s office. Solana project 3.land embraced the tag Brownlee gave to create the NFT collection titled Saga: Bust of the Year. The award-inspired collection has an estimated worth of 11.777 million, whose trading is supported by free mint.

The customers who missed out on the Saga phones expressed dissatisfaction, prompting others to meme the situation. 

Solana Market Activity

The Solana hot streak is not slowing, with its native token SOL outpacing Bitcoin and Ethereum in 50.20% weekly and 95.2% monthly gain. The SOL is exchanging hands at $113.94, representing a 1.34% rally in the past 24 hours per CoinGecko data. The daily trading volume increased by 26.40% to an estimated $6.121 billion, indicating rising market activity. 

The price jump, estimated at 909.7% year-to-date, leaves Solana ranking fourth with a market capitalization of $48.539 billion, per CoinGecko data. Nonetheless, Sol is still 56.50% below its all-time high of $259.96, realized in November 2021.

Solana shows no signs of slowing down, with its fortunes rising as investors embrace a fresh perspective on the blockchain ecosystem.

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