Nextbit has suffered a massive setback after the company was virtually forced to scrap the CDMA version of its rather ambitious Nextbit Robin smartphone.
The company had previously delayed the release of Nextbit Robin CDMA by a couple of months. However, earlier today the company officially confirmed that it won’t be coming after all.
This essentially means that Sprint and Verizon customers who were anticipating for this “cloud-first” smart will now have to start looking for an alternative.
Robin which is being developed and manufactured by Nextbit through crowdfunding, is an Android device that uses cloud storage for data which aren’t typically used for a long period of time.
In a letter to the project’s backers, Tom Moss, CEO of Nextbit, stated that while the last thing the company wanted to do was disappoint anyone – especially those who funded the project – prevailing circumstances compelled the company to do exactly that.
Worth noting, it was immense fan support that somewhat forced the company to add the DCMA version during the Kickstarter campaign. Apparently, the company had underestimated that the cost and regulatory complications associated with obtaining CDMA certification.
Nextbit’s initial estimate was that it would cost them not more than a few thousand dollars to obtain the CDNA license. However, it ended up setting them back by millions of dollars.
Now that the company has officially scrapped the CDMA variant of Robin, anybody who pledged money for it will receive a full refund within the next 48 hours.
Kickstarter backers will also be returned 100% cost of the device as well as any extra money that they spent for shipping, accessories, and so on.
Apart from that, Moss also assured that all those who had backed the CDMA version of the device will receive a 25 percent discount coupon which they can use with the purchase of Nextbit Robin GSM version, as reported by UberGizmo.