Read the Business Insider article prominently linked in the source. They are creating the pretense of oh so scarce AI tokens critical for career success of programmers to push for a modern, more useless version of company scrip. Something outlawed back in the days following the industrial revolution for a reason.
Yes, at least that company script could buy you real stuff, food etc. AI tech bros want to pay you in hot air. Anyhow, isn’t that illegal even in the US? It surely is in the EU.
The Volla Quintus appears to be almost identical, to the Daria Bond that is sold in the UAE. Specs look identical from what I could see and the only difference I can make out are very minor design changes in the back side shell. Volla’s marketing and statements are pretty misleading about that. I am not saying they should not work with Chinese OEMs but they create the impression there was meaningful customisation going on from their side, maybe there was but it looks very much off the shelf from an OEM model.
At the same time Volla also sells Plinius. It is actually a stronger phone, for a lower price than the Quintus but looks very much like the strongest Gigaset phone (which is lower mid-range), so should be actually manufactured in Germany (as much as any phone in Europe could possibly be I think). It is bewildering that they don’t put the Gigaset model square and centre.
The US Tech oligarchs are certainly spending a fortune on corruption (ie lobbying) on national and EU level, however to mixed success so far. The biggest threat to us are Russia’s fifth column, right (but also some left) populist autocrats. Those things are going hand in hand however. Those populists are ready to not only sell us out to Russia but to any foreign power willing to pay. Take the lead candidate of the AfD for the previous EU election. He was shown to have been bought not only by Russia but China as well. I am sure, he would have gladly worked for US tech oligarchs as well, if the AfD would not have frozen him out a bit, not for selling out to foreign powers but for getting caught red handed.
It is up to the voters to vote for or against those people. Sadly, my confidence in this regard is rather low. It is shocking how similar the 2020s are to the 1920s. I am not looking forward to the 2030s.