LA-based startup ZmBizi just launched the Z2, a phone that pays you for your personal usage data, and lets you collect payments from others for your personal economic activities.
ZmBizi launched a beta this year with 1,000 lower-end phones, but the $550 Z2 is its first production device, the company says. It runs a custom version of Android with a "super app" that lets you collect credits for various activities which you convert into cash.
The fresh twist is how the Z2 works as a point-of-sale system, accepting tap-to-pay payments from other phones.
ZmBizi Z2 phone
This is a cool angle. The Z2 accepts tap-to-pay payments from contactless cards and other phones, which can help bring very small businesses into a more modern payments realm. The missing link—which I can't find info about in ZmBizi's press release or on its website—is whether the organization can also function as a bank, or what bank-like things it can be linked to.
I live in an urban area with a massive informal vending economy that operates mostly in cash: churro ladies, mango stands, and little chelado trucks. None of them take Cashapp, Venmo, or tap-to-pay. I don't know if that's about transaction fees, lack of destination bank accounts, or lack of technical proficiency, and I'd love to dig into that question. But if the Z2 can push those economies into 2021, it'll do a good thing.
The "paying you" thing isn't unique to ZmBIZI. The big US player in the space is Current Rewards, which has an app that runs on Android phones and its own relatively low-end phone, the $139.99 Mode Phone.
All of these kinds of apps make their money by selling your user data to aggregators, advertisers, and such. Everyone on the web does that, in some way; you might as well get paid for it. ZmBizi does add a few unique elements to the mix. First of all, it's run by an African-American entrepreneur in LA as opposed to being a "globally distributed team" with VC backing. Second, the Z2 is a nicer phone than the Mode Phone. Finally, the Z2 acts as a point-of-sale system, a twist I hadn't personally seen before.
But.
I'm old, so I'm skeptical. I've seen these kinds of ambitious startups pop up and fail several times, and I was always too credulous. 2016's Siam 7x, with a similar "small, minority-owned company" pitch, never came to market. Rokit, which was aimed at lower-income urban consumers, might still exist or might not; I genuinely can't tell. Saygus, of course, was a scam.
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The actual Z2 phone appears to be a rebadged version of the Cubot X50, a Chinese smartphone that normally lists for $300. The price difference isn't an automatic "gotcha." The fact is, US labor and smarts are expensive, and if a vendor is doing a lot of software and support work in the US, that adds a lot of value.
Cubot X50 phone
Sunbeam Wireless is selling a $50 piece of hardware for $190 in its F1 phone. It completely customized the OS, offers three different versions, and has excellent US-based service and support. The F1 is a PCMag Editors' Choice pick.
In the case of ZmBizi, though, there may not be enough customization here. According to ZmBizi's own spec sheet, the Z2 is only a Category 7 LTE phone in a 5G era (meaning, its network connection is slow) and while it'll work fine on AT&T, it'll have coverage issues on T-Mobile as it lacks LTE band 71. I really doubt it'll work with Verizon, as Verizon has been getting more and more tense about uncertified phones recently.
We probably won't review the Z2. I've been burned by these startups too many times to spend more time on this. But I'll be really happy to be proven wrong.
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