Facebook phone rears its head again
Social networking giant said to be copying Amazon, with customized version of Android and focus on HTML5
Published: 23 November, 2011
READ MORE: Facebook | Handset | Android
One of the industry's favorite rumors is doing the rounds again - the Facebook phone. A rising number of manufacturers are creating handsets whose user interface is centered on the social network, following the lead set by INQ, but so far the software house has not commissioned and branded its own device, choosing to work with operators and OEMs to optimize a wide variety of phones for its service. Now, according to reports, it has hired HTC to create its own gadget, codenamed Buffy.
Like other web players turned phone suppliers before it - Google, Apple et al - it is keeping very quiet about any plans, even as the industry debate why it really needs to antagonize device partners and potentially limit its smartphone options by moving into the unfamiliar world of hardware. The new report comes from the Wall Street Journal's All Things D blog, and claims: "The phone is being planned to run on a modified version of Android that Facebook tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services and support HTML5 as a platform for applications."
This would see Facebook moving well beyond a mere handset optimized for its social network - like those offered already by INQ, Orange, Sony Ericsson, HTC and others - to an Amazon-style attempt to hijack the Android experience for its own offerings. The company has already put HTML5 at the heart of its strategy to expand its social net seamlessly across different device types, and to turn it into a complete platform and communications hub to rival those of Google and Microsoft.
All a Facebook spokesperson would say was: "We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social." But some analysts think it has to work harder to ensure that "deep social" experience continues to revolve around its own product and not Google+, especially in the mobile world, where Google has such influence via its control of Android.
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