New York —
Nearly a year after Trump Mobile started taking $100 deposits and a few days after its website updated to say delivery was “conditional,” the gold-plated Trump Phone will begin shipping this week, the company announced.
The $499 Trump Phone, officially known as the Trump Mobile T1 and strongly resembling a Chinese phone that retails for less than $200 at Walmart, is not quite what that the Trump Organization initially promised. The smartphone will have a smaller screen and less memory storage, but the crucial Trump brand and golden hue appear to remain in place.
Fortune called attention to the fact that the phone’s pre-order terms had changed to say that the company “does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase,” and that a deposit merely represents a “conditional opportunity” to buy a phone “if” Trump Mobile decided to sell one.
But then the company posted a series of announcements to Facebook – its first in more than six months.
