‘Trump Mobile’ Has Struggled To Ship Any Phones, But Has Already Leaked Subscriber Data
from the cheap-crap,-very-on-brand dept
The Trump Organization still hasn’t shipped their promised Trump phone to most customers who laid down a $100 deposit a year ago. But rubes patriots who signed up did get something else instead: their private data leaked to the public. According to Techcrunch, the Trump Mobile website openly shared customer emails, addresses, phone numbers, and other sensitive data.
Trump Mobile has subsequently confirmed the leak, which they’re blaming on somebody else:
“Phone provider Trump Mobile has confirmed that it was exposing customers’ names, email addresses, mailing addresses, cell numbers, and order identifiers to the open internet…[a spokesperson] said that the exposure was linked to a third-party platform provider that supports “certain Trump Mobile operations.” He did not name the provider.”
Whoops.
Even calling Trump Mobile an actual company is generous. As we noted when it was “launched” last year, the company is really just a lazy rebrand of an existing MAGA-friendly MVNO provider, Patriot Mobile, which itself just resells T-Mobile service.
A cornerstone of the venture was a “made in America” gold “Trump phone” named the T1 that was supposed to launch last August. Though shortly after launch the Trump Organization eliminated all the “made in America” claims. And the actual phone still hasn’t arrived in the hands of most customers, despite people paying $100 as early as June last year to reserve one. So very on brand, really.
Some of the Chinese-made phones have started showing up with reviewers, and it’s not going great. The screen is smaller than promised, the gold is more of a sickly yellow, the American flag is missing two stripes, and the phone, despite promises that it was “made with American values in mind,” appears to just be a lazy rebrand of an existing two-year-old Chinese-made Android phone (the 2024 HTC U24 Pro).
So it’s a dated Chinese phone, slathered with Trump’s name, gold paint, and an incorrect depiction of the U.S. flag — that’s a year late, not particularly secure, and pre-loaded with propaganda (Truth Social). Again, very on brand. Though curiously in stark contrast to all of the Trump bravado about how he’d personally ensure most smartphones would now be made in the States.
Still, Trump Mobile execs are trying to put on a brave face and pretend this is going well:
“The technology business is more difficult than some may realize, as parts must be tested for quality assurances,” Trump Mobile CEO Pat O’Brien said in a statement to CNET earlier this month. “We have experienced delays during a variety of steps in getting the T1 to completion, but those delays were worth it in our minds as we are delivering an amazing product.”
Except there’s no real indication that last bit is true. Like most Trump efforts to make money off his name, it’s clear this entire thing was aggressively half-assed.
Filed Under: hardware, mobile, mvno, smartphone, telecom, trump mobile phone, trump organization, wireless
Companies: trump mobile
Comments on “‘Trump Mobile’ Has Struggled To Ship Any Phones, But Has Already Leaked Subscriber Data”
It could be DHS, IRS, CIA… and at $100, theses true patriots deserve to be on good lists, but thanks to their mailing address, ICE is certainly also in the loop.
The depiction of the flag is not missing two stripes. It’s just insufficiently obvious that the words “TRUMP MOBILE” are intended to be the last stripe. Nothing is sacred when it comes to the man or his organization, not even the patriotism he claims to espouse.
There’s nothing curious about it, and I doubt there’s any real struggle here. They got the money last year, and are not currently being sued, so what’s the problem? We should really stop with this journalistic deference in which Trump’s words are presumed to have any meaning whatsoever, despite a clear historical precedent that says otherwise.
Made in AmericaAssembled in AmericaAvailable in AmericaAnother grift in America
“According to techcrunch”
The techcrunch article opens with “On Tuesday, YouTubers Coffeezilla and penguinz0, who both said they ordered Trump Mobile’s gold-colored T1 phone, said they had been alerted by a researcher who found the exposed data online”. Can I suggest to credit the source of the find, rather than an article written about.
This was plugged by the company from the start as a phone that was going to go head to head with Apple and Samsung and beat them at their own game. This clearly is not that phone. 🤣😂🤣🤣🤣
Re:
But it was made with American values in mind.
Does that mean nothing to you?
LOL
Re: Re:
The phone itself was most likely made in China. So much for American values.
It’s the color of French’s mustard lmfao.
Re: Mustard?
Surely it must be Poupon Mustard-colored?
I don’t know about “struggled”. That would seem to imply that they’ve tried.
No Phone =
…. at least they didn’t leak my call history!
“made with American values in mind”
Those are the values that Trump attributes to America. And he was re-elected. The USA, as a whole, has not repudiated these values. and I doubt it ever will. Less obvious corruption has been the way it did business for generations. Trump just means the country no longer gets credit for aspirations.
Bubba doesn’t care, he’s already got his next $100.00 ready to send to his orange hero for the T2 and if that doesn’t eventuate the T3, T4…ad infinitum. Bubba is a moron
Mission accomplished
Trump is just as effective with phones as he is making war on Iran!
Re:
Nah, the war on Iran actually exists.
Mustard?
Surely it must be Poupon Mustard-colored?
Re: Sorry!
I reposted this somehow because I’m a dumb MF who shouldn’t be anywhere near a computer.