With Facebook’s 600m individuals it was surely only a matter of time before the king of the social media networks decided it wished to go into the smart phone fray, as well as according to City AM that time might well be as early as February.
Believed to be produced by phone hardware behemoth HTC, the Facebook phone (we hope that’s not what it will be called) is expected to be revealed during next month’s Mobile world Congress as well as will be powered by a personalized version of Google’s Android operating system. It’s anticipated that Facebook’s prominent news feeds as well as condition updates will type the core of the interface, potentially living on the handset’s homescreen. HTC’s capability to ‘skin’ Android is believed to be one of the primary reason mark Zuckerberg’s startup turned billion dollar business decided to plump for the Taiwanese business as a partner.
Interestingly Joe Hewitt is believed to be one of the key players in the advancement of the handset. Those with long memories may keep in mind Hewitt ceasing advancement of Facebook’s iphone app last year citing frustrations with Apple’s ecosystem as the root cause. Is this what the guy with the golden touch has been working on ever since?
Former Googler Matthew Papakipos is likewise on the team according to City AM.
Is this just one more step toward world domination for Zuckerberg? like him or loathe him, the guy understands exactly how to make products people want to use. Time will tell if the smart phone world is the next to be conquered by the Zuck.
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