Folks have a hard time reclaiming their attention from the never ending distractions of a smart phone. If commodore can make a device and ecosystem to make that happen, I’m sure folks will spend the money.
The reality though is, most folks don’t even think how much time they spend on phones, so I hope they can become profitable with devices sold in the thousands.
I just parental lock my wife’s phone and she parental locks mine. This has worked for us for nearly a decade now. Solutions that actually work often sound weird (because otherwise it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place), but yeah “ask my wife” and vice versa keeps us from installing Facebook and other apps that are rabbit holes while making it easy to remedy if I actually need it. To be clear, this is totally voluntary and we both choose our own blocks then say “hey add a password” or “hey I need to adjust, punch in the password”. I see it as similar to having a bank teller vs the ATM. Easy peasy and that little bit of friction has made our quality of life better.
In case you don't want to bother your spouse (or don't have one) you can use lockmeout.online as a simple online time lock service to hold numeric codes.
> Folks have a hard time reclaiming their attention from the never ending distractions of a smart phone.
It's actually surprisingly easy. Flash LineageOS and don't install any nonessential apps which includes no play services. At that point all you have is SMS and the browser. (If you find even just the browser too difficult to resist then configure parental controls I guess.)
Alternatively a less drastic action is to permanently set it to silent. You (and your contacts) get used to it after a few weeks.
> Flash LineageOS and don't install any nonessential apps which includes no play services.
I did this with GrapheneOS and a simple launcher. That said, it's not something the average person will ever want to, or maybe even be capable to, do. They want to just pay someone money and get a product that respects them.
If this does that, then it will be well received by the people who care enough to spend money on it. I'll actually be buying one when it launches. My custom solution is "fine"... It's also a pain in my behind.
The entire point of a "dumb" phone like this is to reduce the amount of attention it requires from me. Managing some custom ROM and keeping it up to date actually requires MORE attention in some ways. I kind of hate it even after a year or two of constant tinkering to make it fit me "just right". I'd rather have something that respects me out of the box and spend a little time adapting to it.