It was not about the hardware. It was their goals, and their partners.

First off their goals, effectively OLPC the phone. A cheap "smartphone" built on web tech that allowed the owner to modify the software as he saw fit.

This then clashed with the partners they found, carriers that had zero interest in owner-modifiable phones.

It was doomed from the start, but it allowed some execs to pat themselves on the back and tell their fellow gallery dwellers that they had done something for the third world...

The reasons it did not work were obvious when they announced it however.

It was never going to work, and didn’t. Should never had a cent spent on it.

It was worth a shot certainly, no company ever didn't undertake projects that didn't pan out in the end, at least somebody tried to break the smartphone duopoly. I can imagine the money being spent on much worse things.