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Not phones, but phoneys - Hop-On finally reveals hardware

After a year of impenetrable hype, "Hop-on" has handed out its first tangible disposable phones - only for them to turn out to be phoney

The wonder-phone costs $30, comes free with 60 minutes of talk time, and then when it's finished, you just throw it away - or so goes the pre-launch hype - but after a year of talk, Hop-On finally felt obliged to cough up something more substantial.

As reported in SF Gate this turned out to be an error of judgement.

The reporters, no doubt, were intended to place calls, and marvel, and maybe take pictures of the sample wonder-phone. What they actually did, was open it up and examine the works.

Inside, it was a Nokia. To be precise, a Nokia 8260, reported San Francisco Chronical writer Todd Wallack. Modified, to be sure; the modification was that it had "the trade name removed."

Confronted by indignant newspapermen, the company attempted an aloof silence, saying loftily that the technology was "proprietary" - but eventually conceded that the sample provided was not proprietary to Hop-On, but to someone else. First samples, they admitted, had not worked, and this was a promotional illustration of concept. The fact that the real Hop-On would cost $30 and this one more like $300 was a glitch. The "bugs" would be sorted out.

The Chronical reporters don't believe they will, if their story is any guide to their thoughts. The tale finishes off with a description of how the Hop-On share price has responded to the hype, how much cash they've raised from the stock market, and a reference to an associated "gambling venture" having been investigated for fleecing investors.

The Newswireless Net will believe it when we see it ...