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Is 'Facebook Phone' Little More Than A Soundbite?

Google did it. Microsoft did it. Even MySpace did it. Now, Facebook is building its own mobile phone, reports TechCrunch, citing a single source.

"They're building the software for the phone and working with a third party to actually build the hardware," writes TechCrunch. "Which is exactly what Apple and everyone else does, too."

Of chief concern for Facebook, is the ability to integrate deeply into consumers' contacts lists, and other core functions of their phones, say TechCrunch's source. "It can only do that if it controls the operating system."

A Facebook phone would "give the company a horse in the mobile Web race versus Google and Apple," according to eWeek. "As users increasingly conduct more of their computing away from their desktop, on smartphones and tablet computers, the mobile Web is becoming a crucial, fertile battleground for hardware, software and apps."

For its part, Facebook denies building a mobile phone. "The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a 'Facebook Phone' because that's such an attractive soundbite, but building phones is just not what we do," Facebook spokesperson Jaime Schopflin said in a statement.

However, CNet says it has confirmed that the company has reached out to hardware manufacturers and carriers seeking input on a Facebook-branded phone.

"The idea is simple," writes CNet. "An outside company such as Samsung or HTC would build the hardware for an Android-powered phone that would have Facebook's social-networking features deeply integrated and would run on a carrier such as AT&T, possibly under an exclusive deal similar to the iPhone.

"A Facebook mobile OS, built from the ground up, is incredibly unlikely," suggests Fast Company. "Making an OS is about as hard as interface work gets--you've got to be good at a few dozen different things, almost none of which Facebook has ever tried ... Facebook is simply not diverse enough to take on such a project."

Read the whole story at TechCrunch et al »

1 comment about "Is 'Facebook Phone' Little More Than A Soundbite?".
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  1. Jerry Foster from Energraphics, September 21, 2010 at 3:13 a.m.

    Will our phone calls to others be announced on everyone's wall including our main one?

    I know a married guy who made friends last week with a younger woman who quickly wanted to Facebook connect. He said "hold your horses there". His wife would have immediately asked who this woman was.

    So it isn't just that we're begging to be controlled by a corporation, we're begging to be controlled by our Facebook Friends as a group...who would all know every communication we make with one another.

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