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Punkt rocks its minimalist roots with ‘privacy-first’ MC02 smartphone
Minimalist phonemaker Punkt has launched its first smartphone, positioned at the crossroads between minimalism, privacy, and utility.
The device ships with a unique version of Android, replete with easy data privacy controls, a built-in VPN that works at the chipset level, and a handful of services bundled under a monthly subscription designed to make this a sustainable operation: recurring revenue is the game-plan here. Those who buy the MC02 get a year for free, after which they’ll pay around $20/€15/£13 each month (discounted if paid annually) to access a handful of services including email, a VPN (dubbed “Digital Nomad”), online synchronization for calendar and contacts, secure storage on Punkt’s own Swiss servers, and the express promise that there will be no ads or third-party crawlers. Thus, Punkt is pegging its plans on a portion of the population that has tired of Big Tech’s reach into every crevice of our everyday life, including Google’s nefarious data-hoovering efforts which have become a staple part of the Android experience through the years, shoehorning its own sticky applications into the fabric of the operating system.
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