Donald Trump’s family business, in a move led by the president’s children, has licensed its name to launch a US mobile service and smartphone.
Launched on Monday, June 16 and dubbed Trump Mobile, the new venture will use the networks of three existing major US mobile carriers.
The phone itself will retail for $499 and the network subscription price will cost $47.45 a month. This payment is a reference to President Donald Trump, with him having served as the 45th and currently 47th president of the US.
"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," said the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr during the announcement at Trump Tower.
The handset itself is a "sleek, gold smartphone" that will be "designed and built in the United States", although it hasn’t been publicly revealed which company will be in charge of production.
Domestic smartphone production in the US is relatively rare, due to high labour costs and certain supply chain complexities.
For context, nearly all of these smartphones bought in the US are manufactured abroad, typically in China, South Korea, and a growing number in India and Vietnam.
Just one American company, California-based Purism, makes smartphones at home in the US, where one handset retails for $1,999 – roughly four times the base price of the Trump Mobile phone.
Indeed, on a podcast also released on Monday, June 16, Eric Trump said that the first delivery of phones, due to come out in August, might not be made in the US.
"Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America," Eric Trump said on The Benny Show podcast.
How will the Trump Mobile phone work?
The Trump family said as part of their announcement that the mobile service will include call centres based in the US.
The Trump Organization, the term for the family members involved in the business ventures, was reportedly not involved in the design of the smartphone, the manufacture, or the sale of the cellular service.
Experts from within the mobile phone industry have noted that it’s a difficult industry to break into.
"MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) account for barely three to four per cent of US wireless subscriptions and customer churn tends to be high," Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, told Reuters. "Unless Trump Mobile cracks the million-subscriber mark — well above most celebrity MVNOs — the financial impact is de minimis."
Is President Trump involved?
Since taking office, President Trump has put all his business interests into a trust, to be managed by his children to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Other projects recently taken on by the Trump family, outside of ongoing licensing deals, real estate investments, and golf clubs, include crypto projects, such as launching personalised coins.
Reuters reported that the crypto projects alone have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, according to sales listed by the crypto entities.
This income generation has been criticised by some, with Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard Law School, saying: "No one who has been paying attention could miss that President Trump considers the presidency a vehicle to grow his family's wealth. Maybe this example will help more come to see this undeniable truth."
