As Facebook failed to excited Wall Street yesterday with Q2 earnings, the rumor mill is once again churning about the social networking giant’s supposed plans to build and launch a Facebook-branded smartphone.
As Bloomberg reported earlier this week, Facebook is believed to be working with HTC Corp. to build its own smartphone for a mid-2013 market introduction.
That information comes from “people with knowledge of the matter.”
The companies had intended to release the device as early as the end of this year, and pushed back the timetable to give HTC more time to work on other products, said some of the people, who requested anonymity because the plans aren’t public. Facebook is also developing a modified operating system for the device and has assembled a team of former Apple Inc. programmers to improve its iPhone application, people said.
“Usage is shifting to mobile, and they have not been able to monetize mobile,” Victor Anthony, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets, tells Bloomberg. “To the extent that it’s a device you own and carry around with you at all times, and it ties into the Facebook experience, it will be beneficial. They could then put a lot of ads onto the platform.”
Would you be excited about the introduction of a Facebook phone? More importantly, would you buy one? Please weigh in with a thought or comment below.
