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<v Speaker 1>Time for Tech Tuesday. Mike Dubuski, ABC News Technology reporter

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<v Speaker 1>Mike is always thanks for hanging out. Quick question, well,

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<v Speaker 1>I even actually not even quick. The Trump family phone plan.

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<v Speaker 1>So let me ask you. I don't know if you

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<v Speaker 1>bought a one of the Trump ties bibles. The stakes

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<v Speaker 1>were very strong, and now we've got the phone plan,

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<v Speaker 1>tell us about it. Why would other than for political reasons,

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<v Speaker 1>why would I buy a phone plan?

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<v Speaker 2>That's a great question, and I will try to measure

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<v Speaker 2>up to the astronaut here. I know it's tough act

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<v Speaker 2>to follow, but yes. On Monday here in New York City,

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<v Speaker 2>the Trump Organization, which is not run by President Donald

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<v Speaker 2>Trump but rather run by his sons Eric and Don Junior,

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<v Speaker 2>announced that they're getting into the telecom space with Trump Mobile.

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<v Speaker 2>This is what's known as an MVNO or a virtual

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<v Speaker 2>mobile excuse me, a virtual mobile network operator, which kind

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<v Speaker 2>of piggybacks off the larger service providers in the United

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<v Speaker 2>States AT and T, Verizon T Mobile, so it should

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<v Speaker 2>offer the same coverage as those types of service providers.

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<v Speaker 2>It is forty seven forty five a month, which are

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<v Speaker 2>significant numbers for the Trump family given that that is

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<v Speaker 2>sort of his place in the presidential line. But that

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<v Speaker 2>is a little bit more expensive than what we would

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<v Speaker 2>expect from some of the competitors in this smaller network space,

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<v Speaker 2>things like mint Mobile or things like Cricket wireless. This

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<v Speaker 2>is a little bit pricier than that. But the Trump

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<v Speaker 2>family is saying that they're offering some bonuses, things like

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<v Speaker 2>roadside assistance and telehealth services. We don't know really how

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<v Speaker 2>that's going to work in practice, but that is what

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<v Speaker 2>they are saying. Justifies that additional cost. And in addition,

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<v Speaker 2>despite the fact that they say that this will work

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<v Speaker 2>with pretty much any modern smartphone, they're also offering their

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<v Speaker 2>own smartphone. But this thing also raises a little bit

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<v Speaker 2>more questions than it, you know, maybe at first Blush answers.

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<v Speaker 2>It is called the one. Its full name is actually

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<v Speaker 2>T one Phone eight thousand and two gold version. It

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<v Speaker 2>is gold. It has a big T on the back

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<v Speaker 2>and an American flag. They say it has a six

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<v Speaker 2>point eight inch screen with a one hundred and twenty

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<v Speaker 2>hertz for fresh rate, of fifty megapixel camera and a

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<v Speaker 2>five thousand milliampaer long life battery. So it is a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty standard mid range Android device. But there are some

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<v Speaker 2>question marks on the website if you dive a little

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<v Speaker 2>deeper into the specs. For example, the processor and RAM

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<v Speaker 2>section claims that the storage of this phone is twelve

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<v Speaker 2>gigabytes of RAM. Ram and storage are two different things,

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<v Speaker 2>so we don't really know what the storage is here.

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<v Speaker 2>We also don't know what the processor is up until

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<v Speaker 2>this morning when they change it. They also claim to

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<v Speaker 2>have a five thousand milliamp hoer camera of millionp howers

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<v Speaker 2>are used to describe battery size, so that is also

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<v Speaker 2>a sort of question mark there. The photo they have

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<v Speaker 2>appears to be a computer rendering. It looks sort of

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<v Speaker 2>iPhone esque, but there's no flash next to the camera array,

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<v Speaker 2>so that's a question mark as well. These are all

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<v Speaker 2>things that maybe give people pause before they put down

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<v Speaker 2>the one hundred dollars deposit.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and by the way, one hundred dollars deposit towards.

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<v Speaker 2>How much five hundred dollars is.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, all right, but obviously not the gold phone.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's interesting, right they call it the gold version,

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<v Speaker 2>implying a non gold version, a standard version, but that

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<v Speaker 2>there's no real evidence of that on the website at

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<v Speaker 2>this point. And in addition to that, that five hundred

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<v Speaker 2>dollars should also give us a little pause as well,

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<v Speaker 2>because the Trump family claims that they're going to build

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<v Speaker 2>this phone here. Yes, at some point.

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<v Speaker 1>That is the question I asked, How does someone build

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<v Speaker 1>a phone? Considering the intricacies and the manufacturing, et cetera

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States, how do you physically do that?

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<v Speaker 2>It's really difficult. In short, for one all the reasons

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<v Speaker 2>that you laid out right, there's no real infrastructure to

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<v Speaker 2>do this. The Trump family would need to spin up

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<v Speaker 2>a factory to do this and agree with suppliers to

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<v Speaker 2>build the materials needed for this phone in the United

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<v Speaker 2>States as well. And in addition to that, there are

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<v Speaker 2>no major smartphone manufacturers building phones in the US, so

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<v Speaker 2>there's no real knowledge base to hire people to do this,

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<v Speaker 2>at least here in the US either. So it's going

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<v Speaker 2>to be a big task if that is exactly what

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<v Speaker 2>they're trying to do. Now, we've seen similar phones like

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<v Speaker 2>this crop up aimed at like one specific side of

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<v Speaker 2>the political aisle, on both sides of the aisle, where

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<v Speaker 2>essentially they've bought cheap phones from China and then imported

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<v Speaker 2>them into the United States with different branding on them.

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<v Speaker 2>There's a phone called the Freedom Phone a few years

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<v Speaker 2>ago that basically did that. But again, a major point

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<v Speaker 2>of the Trump administration, which again is separate from the

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<v Speaker 2>Trump Organization, so they say, you know, is aimed at

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<v Speaker 2>bringing manufacturing back to the United States. So that's what

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<v Speaker 2>they say they're going to do. But even still, for

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<v Speaker 2>all the reasons that we've outlined, there's some reason to

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<v Speaker 2>be skeptical of that.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, I wish we had more time. I know

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<v Speaker 1>you have to be a lot of here, you got

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more reported to do. Thank you. We'll talk

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<v Speaker 1>again because there's a ton of questions I have about

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<v Speaker 1>that and the the meta story. Take care, Mike, Thank you.

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<v Speaker 2>Take it.
