Mobile Device - The New Chapter for Broader Adoption

1. Background - The Trend of Launching Advanced Mobile Devices

Source: Solana Mobile and Mysten Labs

One of the major highlights at the key crypto conferences held in the second half of 2024—KBW, TOKEN 2049, and Breakpoint—was undoubtedly the launch announcements of Solana Labs' second mobile series, the Seeker(i.e., Saga Series 2), and Mysten Labs' handheld gaming device, SuiPlay0X1. For the Seeker, pre-orders surpassed 140,000 units as of September 19, and for the SuiPlay0X1, pre-orders exceeded 2,000 units just two weeks after the announcement.

The widespread attention on the launch of mobile devices across the industry was significantly influenced by the June 2022 announcement of Solana Mobile's first Saga series, a subsidiary of Solana Labs. Unlike other experimental mobile devices (e.g., IMPulse, HTC Desire 22 Pro, ΞPhone, etc.), Solana Labs' mobile series is uniquely led by Solana Labs itself, driving an open initiative for the mobile stack, known as the Solana Mobile Stack(SMS). This has spurred various players to actively develop mobile-specific features, fostering innovation in the mobile sector.

Solana aims to popularize blockchain usage in mobile environments and promote retail finance by allowing users to experience the diverse Solana ecosystem seamlessly through SMS. Although Mysten Labs' SuiPlay0X1 has yet to reveal as many detailed stacks or initiatives compared to SMS, it is expected to provide features such as an account system and asset ownership system based on the Sui network, along with various protocol-native functionalities. As a marketplace for gamers and developers, it is also anticipated to support not only Web3 titles but also some Web2 titles from popular gaming platforms like Steam and Epic Games.

Of course, the public's explosive interest in these mobile devices may have been largely driven by the anticipation of airdrops - in fact, the first Saga mobile series initially saw slow sales, but with the announcement of the BONK token airdrop and the revitalization of the Solana ecosystem, it sold out by last December. Similarly, Sui Play0X1 is also fueling buyers' expectations of airdrops by offering soulbound NFTs exclusively to pre-order customers.

However, we should note that these mobile device initiatives hold significance not just as one-off airdrops, but as tools that can address key challenges in crypto adoption by abstracting away complex crypto interactions and delivering a concentrated Web3 experience.

2. Takeaway - Accelerating Broader Adoption with Mobile Devices Powered by Concentrated Crypto Technology

2.1 Achieving the Ultimate UX through the Seamless Integration of Hardware and Software

The primary reasons technology fails to be adopted by the public are either 1) the technology doesn’t provide significant value to the public indeed, or 2) developers fail to effectively convey the experience of the technology to the public. However, in many cases, people prematurely conclude that it’s the first reason without properly validating the second. This implies that, for technology adoption, research should focus not only on advancing the technology itself but also on how it is communicated and delivered to the public.

The emergence of various physical devices in line with the ever-evolving software technologies illustrates this well. As communication and data processing technologies have advanced, software has undoubtedly seen remarkable progress over the past few decades. This innovation in software continuously reshapes the role of physical devices - to effectively deliver experiences in technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), form factors optimized for user convenience are constantly being developed. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets enhance the software experience by integrating the latest AI technologies or offering personalized interfaces. Autonomous vehicles, wearable devices, and smart home appliances also leverage new sensor technologies to analyze their surroundings, providing users with advanced automation and personalized functions.

In other words, physical devices are essential for bringing software experiences to life. Software and hardware have a complementary relationship, and the true value of software shines when combined with physical devices that can effectively implement it.

2.2 Crypto Native Mobile Device Can Target Broader Contexts in an Effective/Efficient Way

In line with the previous explanation, the ultimate implementation of a software’s functionality is ultimately determined by its physical device. The same applies to blockchain technology. No matter how advanced blockchain technology becomes, it will be difficult to fully utilize if there is no physical device capable of integrating and supporting crypto experiences in various contexts. In other words, we need to fundamentally question whether the current devices, where crypto experiences are being implemented, can truly deliver those experiences to the masses - the industry often identifies UX as the main bottleneck for crypto adoption, and there have been numerous attempts to abstract various software elements (e.g., Chain Abstraction, Account Abstraction, etc.). However, we should take a step back and also consider the physical environment itself in which crypto engagement occurs.

From this perspective, a key design consideration for devices that can deliver a crypto experience is how well they represent crypto elements and how effectively they enhance accessibility and ease of use, ensuring that users can enjoy a seamless crypto experience across various contexts.

So far, most crypto technologies have been developed primarily for desktop web environments. In other words, to perform complex on-chain interactions, people have mostly had to rely on desktops. However, for our daily tasks, we depend heavily not only on desktops but also on mobile devices. Mobile devices allow for easy access to the internet in various contexts (e.g., commuting, on-the-go, or during spare time) and are increasingly capable of supporting more complex interactions. As a result, more daily & commercial activities are being focused on mobile environments. Therefore, if on-chain interactions can be well-defined for mobile, it would expand the user base and increase exposure to crypto experiences in a variety of contexts.

Of course, there have already been active efforts to implement crypto experiences on existing mobile devices (i.e., Android, iOS) - most notably, developers are leveraging technologies like account abstraction and MPC to provide users with an improved crypto experience on mobile compared to desktops. However, just like on desktop, these efforts still require separate implementations for crypto-related interfaces, as core crypto functionalities (i.e., encryption, seed phrase generation, signature) cannot be natively integrated into these devices. These dependencies on existing devices not only hampers the growth of the crypto space but also adds complexity to the UX and raises concerns about security and other potential issues.

In the end, achieving effective and efficient crypto adoption requires dedicated crypto-native artifacts. To fully deliver the experience to users at the pace of crypto technology's advancement, a suitable device is necessary. And mobile devices designed with a crypto-native approach could be the most suitable form for converting these experiences into broader adoption across various contexts.

2.3 Unparalleled Composability Centered around Protocol-Native Initiatives

Unlike the traditional Web2 tech stack, applications in Web3, where users directly interact, still need to be concerned with the underlying technical layers. If the standards and network layers related to these interactions can be abstracted at the infrastructure level, many applications will not only be able to focus solely on business logic and deliver more innovative products, but also provide users with a crypto experience similar to the familiar level of service in Web2.

These infrastructure technologies can be consolidated into a single crypto-native device, and especially in cases like Seeker or SuiPlay0X1, initiatives led by the foundation or core team can be highly effective because 1) they are the entities that understand the low-level technology stack that makes up their blockchain network the best, and 2) they have a unique advantage in being able to collaborate with various players within the ecosystem.

For Mysten Labs' SuiPlay0X1, only limited information has been released so far, including compatibility with existing Web2 gaming platforms like Epic Games and Steam, as well as details about its specifications. However, it is expected to showcase a range of Web3 features that gamers wouldn't experience on traditional gaming platforms, leveraging native functionalities of the Sui blockchain such as the account system, state management mechanism, zkLogin, Stashed, and Sponsored Transactions, etc.

For Solana Mobile's Seeker, as mentioned earlier, it has been expanding the foundation of their development stack through the open-source software development kit (SDK) called SMS. They are rapidly building infrastructure optimized for Seeker by onboarding numerous developers who align with the vision and philosophy of this initiative, bringing together comprehensive Web3 experiences.

Notably, SMS consists of the following key components and also offers SDKs for various languages and development frameworks such as React Native, Kotlin, Flutter, Unity, Unreal Engine, and Solana KMP."

• Solana dApp Store - A dApp store specialized in the distribution of decentralized applications. It enables users to easily discover and use various applications and rewards, with the ultimate goal of having the store's content primarily managed by the community.

  
  

• Mobile Wallet Adapter - A standardized interface that facilitates smooth communication between applications and Solana wallets in a mobile environment. By integrating this adapter once, developers can easily connect to a variety of compatible mobile wallets. Currently, it supports Android and Mobile Web - Chrome (Android) only.
  

• Seed Vault - Designed for use with the 'Wallet' application, this stack ensures the safekeeping of users' private keys and other important information. It allows all applications downloaded on the mobile device to utilize the same seed - the Seed Vault feature, included in the Seeker series, was developed through a collaboration between the Solflare team and the Seeker team.
  

• Solana Pay for Android - A payment system using the Solana blockchain, enabling users to easily make payments with Solana-related cryptocurrencies (i.e., SOL, SPL) in a mobile environment. Currently, only the Android SDK is available, and it supports Solana Pay requests to be executed through QR codes, NFC taps, messages, and web browser interactions to capture the Solana Pay URL.

Source: Solanamobile.com

Along with its launch announcement, Seeker introduced around 60 ecosystem players. Below are examples of how each player contributes through Seeker.

• Solflare’s Seed Vault

• Dialect’s Blinks Integration

• Helius & Light Protocol’s ZK Compression Support(i.e., Airship)

• Rader Hackathon (DePIN Track) Powered by Colosseum

• Helium’s 5G Hotspot Support & DePIN Operation

• Moonshot’s Token Launch Platform

• Payment via Helio

• Alethea AI’s Tokenized AI Agents

• and many others

Through a crypto-native artifact, users can bypass various infrastructure-related interactions typically required on-chain, making it easier to expose off-chain users to the on-chain environment, and these onboarded users can then experience a range of applications and features embedded in the device, gradually building their Web3 experience. Especially, devices created under the guidance of foundations or development teams with the highest understanding of the underlying blockchain technology can maximize composability, unlike previous initiatives led by third parties. This allows for software to be optimally designed for hardware, while also maximizing synergies across ecosystems.

As industry-leading, high-performance networks designed with "Real Mass Adoption" in mind from the start, the efforts by Solana Labs and Mysten Labs are expected to play a crucial role in bridging Web2 and Web3. Therefore, it will be highly interesting to watch how existing Web3 products seamlessly integrate into these mobile initiative, as well as what new products tailored specifically for the mobile sector might emerge.

3. Others’ Opinions

3.1 Adeniyi from Mysten Labs (Source)

So the SuiPlay0X1, if you imagine what Google has, Google has the Android OS and then it releases a Pixel device as a marquee, flagship device that everyone runs after. It’s the same thing with the SuiPlay0X1 for us. The SuiPlay would be the flagship hardware. It would be great price, amazingly good hardware with a world class operating system. And the operating system, the Playtron OS is going to be on multiple devices.

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The great thing about the operating system is that it’s deeply integrated with a Sui ecosystem. So your wallet will be a Sui wallet. The ability to transact will be very, very low. You have an ability to use digital currency within apps. We announced Square Enix partnership recently, where you’ll be able to buy games such as Final Fantasy or other compatible games on a SuiPlay0X1. So you benefit from the flexibility and the low cost of Sui and without throwing wallets and crypto in people’s faces.

3.2 Emmett Hollyer from Solana Mobile (Source)

We believe it’s time for crypto to go mobile. That means bringing things that we love about Web3 - DeFi, Tokens, dApps - to mobile phones, and the things we love about mobile phones - GPS, cameras, sensors - to Web3.

For developers, we wanted to create a free and unrestricted App Store one without a 30% Apple and Google take rate and one without any crypto-phobic censorship. For Users, we wanted to create a cohesive web3 mobile experience with the highest level of crypto security available on any mobile device. In doing so, we thought we’d open up a new frontier for web3 and lay a path towards breaking up the dApp Store duopoly.

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Solana ecosystem projects and developers have distributed millions of dollars in rewards to Saga users kickstarting the web3 mobile flywheel. It’s more than a phone, it’s a Web3 magnet.

3.3 Joe McCann from Asymmetric (Source)

A supply chain attack is a type of cyberattack that targets trusted third-party vendors providing essential services or software to a network. Since the software is managed by the vendor in the situation, there’s a high chance that the publisher may be unaware that the version of the software being released to the public has been infected with malware ··· This is yet another reason why mobile phones need to access secure elements/enclaves to store seed phrases and sign transactions — users have to "trust" the app developers with their seed phrases/private keys and transaction signing. The @solanamobile phone, Saga, is pushing the mobile industry forward by enabling access to the secure enclave by default.

3.4 Anatoly Yakovenko from Solana Labs (Source)

As soon as we started working on Solana, we envisioned that people all around the world would be using this network, and naturally, they'd be accessing it from their phones. Since it involves cryptographic secrets, and we’ve worked extensively on both the hardware and firmware layers, it made perfect sense to build all of these smart functions directly into the device itself. So having your phone act as your hardware wallet makes a lot of sense.

4. Resource

Related Articles, News, Tweets etc. :

• Will SUI be the next SOLANA?

• Breakpoint 2024: Keynote: Solana Seeker (Emmett Hollyer)

• Joe McCann's Tweet

• Solana Unveils Web3 Mobile Phone

Related People, Projects :

• Sui Network

• Mysten Labs

• SuiPlay0X1

• Solana

• Solana Labs

• Solana Mobile (Seeker)

• Breakpoint

• Solflare

• Dialect

• Helius

• Light Protocol

• Colosseum

• Helium Network

• Moonshot

• Helio

• Alethea AI

• Adeniyi Abiodun

• Anatoly Yakovenko

• Emmett Hollyer

• Joe McCann