It has been rumored that Facebook is to release a smartphone of their own because of the mobile event invitation they have sent. The event will take place tomorrow, November 3, at Palo Alto, California. You might remember the tech blog in TechCrunch last month that reportedly Facebook was secretly making their special smartphone. Because of this Facebook issued a response saying they were not building a phone but they had project which focused on “deeper integrations with some manufacturers.”
The response was sort of the same and reminiscent to what Google have said last year when they were rumored to release a smartphone which of course they release last January.
The invitation from Facebook provided no details of their secret smartphone. The event will start at around 10:30 am which will be followed by lunch. The event has a flavor of the old string and Dixie cup phones. If we are to expect a phone from Facebook, it surely will be a high end phone.
People have been speculating on this anticipated phone because there has been multiple reports that this social network king is talking about a partnership with INQ Mobile on a couple of Android based phones which were to be release on 2011. Bloomberg stated that it is true that INQ will emphasize on social media features on their phones, Facebook still has not decided whether they will carry the brand. One phone will feature both a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard, and the other phone will only have a touch screen. These phones are expected to compete with Apple’s iPhones. Bloomberg said that it is not yet a signed deal but is still being mulled over by company executives.
Facebook said that they are not building their own smartphone but said that “Our approach has always been to make phones and apps more social,” This was stated by a representative from Facebook through email. Furthermore, he said “Current projects include everything from an HTML5 version of the site to apps on major platforms to full Connect support with SDKs to deeper integrations with some manufacturers. Our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social, so integrating deeply into existing platforms and operating systems is a good way to enable this… 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 did not make a comment on Bloomberg’s report but confirmed that they are working with INQ. If you remember in the last quarter of 2008, a British mobile operator introduced a “Facebook phone,” which is also known as the INQ1. Facebook said “We’ve been working with INQ for a couple of years now to help them build a deeply integrated Facebook experience on their devices. While we can’t speak for their future product development plans, we can say that our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social.”
Facebook is now the most popular app in almost all operating systems. Will they announce tomorrow the release of their own Facebook smartphone?
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The British Monarchy – her Majesty the Queen – now has a presence on Facebook. The world can now view a different sort of Royal Page LOL!
Hello my friend, I really value your knowledge in the tech world, that`s why I need your accurate advise, I want an all in one phone,? my choices Nokia 5800 or Iphone 3G, What do you have to say?…Thanks
There are over 500 million active members currently using Facebook. Putting it into perspective, if Facebook were a country, it would have the 4th largest population on the planet.
I would always go for an iPhone. There is the new iPhone 4g. If you go for Nokia, try the high end android phones or communicator phones they have. That’s just my two cents.