By When you talk about Facebook, usually it’s about Facebook being the dominant player as a website and social entity. And it is. But what is stopping Facebook from going from a website that also makes mobile apps apps to a company making (or branding) social hardware just as Google went from providing a dominant search engine to building the most popular mobile OS, offering industry leading turn-by-turn navigation software, and selling the Nexus One?
Nothing. We’ve got an invitation to a November 3rd Facebook Mobile event and we’re not sure WHAT will be announced at their heaquarters in Paolo Alto, California… but the launch of a Facebook phone is a possibility, and an incredibly intersting one at that.
It’s quite possible that Facebook is just holding an event to celebrate the launch of a fully functioning app on multiple platforms that greatly enhances the Facebook experience on your mobile phone. But I doubt that. I sense something bigger is at hand.
Prior to the launch of the Nexus One, I was rudely confident in saying that Google wouldn’t launch their own phone. They didn’t launch the gPhone as many had predicted, but I was suprised they launched a phone at all. In my opinion, it wasn’t their core competency and it would compete with the partners whose trust they had gained.
Now I see the world a little bit differently after eating humble pie. These huge companies are on top of a world that is driven by innovation. Great ideas win. Either you can let other companies put their great ideas into action and eventually overthrow you, or you can leverage your ingenuity, creativity, financial resources, and sheer size to take market share in new and growing markets. This is something Google also did with their Chrome browser and Chrome OS.
Given that Facebook is a powerhouse in the world of everything social, wouldn’t a huge move in the mobile industry make sense? Mobile and social go hand in hand. Mark Zuckerberg has taken Facebook from a small dinky website to one of the most successful, rich, and powerful companies in the world. The movie “The Social Network” says a lot about where this guy came from and where he is going, but the fact is that this kid loves building things. If he started Facebook from scratch, tech competitors should be scared about what this guy can accomplish with the resources he has in post success days.
The holiday season is upon us and it looks like a Facebook phone might be an option. Or will they announce something else, like an outrageously awesome mobile dev tools to build Facebook extensions for their apps? It could be anything… so leave your best guess in the comments below!
Hmmm, I dunno. It’s not a totally crazy idea exactly… But I know I would much rather let the big boys handle the phones and facebook focus on there 3 party services.
Can’t even make a decent android app and want to make a phone ….
Truth, did you read the article? The Facebook phone is pure speculation.
now where did facebook stole this idea now?
first a dumb movie then facebook points cards you buy at walmart
enough!!!
My guess is a new Facebook Mobile SDK which extend games like Farmville to mobile devices; whether they’re just add-on extensions to your desktop instance of the game or full-blown apps.
Also, obviously, more mobile ads and crapware/spyware quiz games and such.
Thanks for linking to your previous article, so I can clearly see you are an idiot who has no real understanding of the tech marketplace and really are unqualified to be writing articles in general. What a pinhead.
I’d love to see them come out with a vanilla Android phone with no lock on the bootloader, no bloatware (except the Facebook app if they want) and the freedom to do what ever we please with it. I don’t believe in this ‘leaving the phones to the big boys’ idea, I think the big boys have misused the openness of the Android OS and we need a big player to come in and offer something in the true spirit of Android to compete head to head with all these phones that push bloat down our throat. Heck the Samsung phones force you to use Bing for christ sakes. They took the software distributed by Google, and took Google right off of the thing. That’s just crazy.
Who in the world would buy the thing ?
Teenagers ?
:O
Helio. ’nuff said.
Perhaps they’re launching an Android app that’s not completely and utterly terrible. You know, since they acquired what’s-his-face from Google’s android team, you’d think they could finally make a decent app.
One can always dream.
Taking the phrase “douche bag” to a whole new level…smart move by Facebook though, there is an ass load of d-bags afterall
FB has had so many recent privacy controversies, not sure I would trust a smartphone made by them.
It will never happen. Here’s why.
1) Google and Facebook are completely different companies. Google actually writes software and has been doing so long before Facebook even existed. Facebook is a website…and just that.
2) If Facebook WAS actually making a phone, you would have heard about it a long time ago and even seen it coming. Facebook history has no indication of any hardware company buyouts or partnerships with mobile phone manufacturers or wireless provider partnerships. With Google’s Android, the OHA — Open Handset Alliance made it obvious that Google was making a phone OS.
3) Facebook knows as well as any that making a phone would not only mean business suicide but a huge waste of money.
@Sean… I would surely hope so…and being that PHANDROID got an invitation makes me feel that may be a possibility
Just curious if I’m the only one that noticed the graphics on the invite…. two cans and a string? Hmmm…. gives me the opinion that the phone idea isn’t too far fetched.
It wasn’t too long ago that I was reading about the steps Facebook was taking to integrate with Windows 7 phones from the ground up and now this…. lets hope not
Well, if facebook comes out with their own phone, one thing’s for certain: unlike Google’s Nexus One, the facebook phone will have huge initial sales numbers. Who doesn’t use facebook? True, everyone uses Google too, but mainly to search to go to other websites. Facebook is a site where you can stay for an hour wasting time. The facebook phone would sell big in the 18-24 age group, can’t say for anyone older how it would sell. Android, iOS, WP7, Nokia, RIM, facebook…regardless what Apple & iJobs dictate, choice is a good thing.
I’m a typical Facebook teen with a social life…and i just wanna say if they come out with a phone ain’t nobidy gonna buy thay shit…they better fix my android app
@eBay, good observation.
What if they’re coming out with a multiplatform VOIP service? I think that would make a lot of sense: Facebook is all about connecting people and enabling them to communicate. Now that they have integrated chat, all that’s left is having a service for people to call each other. It could be integrated into their respective mobile apps. Now THAT would be awesome!
Imagine that, unlike Skype (where you only have a few other ppl who are also on Skype), you had the ability to call almost everyone you know on Facebook (which is about 98% of the ppl I know).
It would be cool to have a facebook phone but i dont expect to see anything different then what we have seen from facebook on other devices. I mean they cant add much more except a logo and haveing your home screen of the phone automatically being facebook. not so cool either. but i would expect maybe there apps becoming completely accesiable on several different OS and devices. which some would enjoy not having to go to your computer everytime you need to change something. i know they have some apps out now but maybe they enhanced them all im saying is that i wouldnt drop whatever phone i had to run and get a facebook phone.
Not that it isn’t possible, but…
Who would the manufacturer be?
Who are the prospective carriers?
How would/could they set their handset apart from the competition? This is a big question. With the current and upcoming specs of mobile handsets, how does a FB phone distinguish itself when I can probably just go directly to facebook.com on my phone. My phone has already flash 10.1 and with Tegra 2 (and comparable) processors coming plus “4G” networks rolling out, people will just be able to Farmville right from their phone.
This has more gimmick written on it than an iPhone, then again, look how well that POS sells.
All I want to see come from this is an android app as good as the iPhone one. I don’t want to have to go the the dumb website to check-in! D:<
@Sean and @eBay; Maybe it’s a collaboration between Facebook and Skype? It would be great for everyone using Skype if it was possible to call all your facebook friends, so perhaps a Skype plugin for FB? Or maybe FB will acquire Skype. ;-)
i think that it’ll be great becuase there are alot of people who use fb and would like to have a decent app. i have a motorola cliq and a fb phone would be great for me
@LAB, I doubt it would be anyone but Windows Live Call, because of Facebook’s deep, existing relationship with Microsoft. They just integrated Facebook into Windows Live Messenger, so that would make the most sense to me. If they can keep the audio quality and fees on par with Skype, I’m fine with that.
Facebook music i thing..
im calling it right now, google buys facebook, facebook app now exclusive to android, iphone app discontinued