Stop us if you have heard this one before: Facebook is building its own smartphone, claim “employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans,” according to the New York Times.
This is the third effort for Facebook, according to the report, with a HTC joint venture codenamed “Buffy” still in progress. HTC released a set of Android phones last year named “Salsa” and “Status” with deep Facebook integration on the way to hugely disappointing sales and earnings.
Apple was mere betas away from releasing iOS 4 with Facebook integration—the way Twitter is currently built into iOS. Something at the last minute, perhaps related to Facebook pulling support for Ping, made Apple pull the plug. Apple then integrated with Twitter a year later.
Facebook recently announced a cross-platform web App Center for mobile device application distribution that is aimed at building a smartphone platform, an updated Messenger app with read receipts, a Pages Manager, as well as a specialized photo application that replicated features of Instagram (which it purchased just weeks before).
Facebook is approaching 1 billion users globally with more than half of them being mobile. Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed appreciation for Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg.
- Apple releases revised iOS 5.1.1 build for GSM iPhone 4, available for new installs (9to5mac.com)
- Likely next-generation iPhone with 3.9-inch display, 1136 x 640 resolution in testing (9to5mac.com)
- Revealed: Facebook Messenger for iPad, iPhone app with video chat in the works (9to5mac.com)
