Zuckerberg: Facebook Building a Phone Wouldn't Make Sense
Zuckerberg denies rumors that Facebook's building a phone (but conveniently doesn't mention the possibility of a third party doing the building).
We've been hearing talk of a Facebook-branded phone for months. Most recently, Bloomberg cited 'people with knowledge of the matter' that said Facebook and HTC were preparing to launch a phone in mid-2013. However, today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shot down reports of a Facebook smartphone, claiming it wouldn't make any sense for the social network to produce a phone.
SlashGear reports that Zuckerberg's remarks were made during an earnings call yesterday. The 28-year-old responded to questions about the possibility of Facebook building their own phone with the following statement:
"There are lots of things that you can build in other operating systems as well that aren't really building out a whole phone, which I think really wouldn't make much sense for us to do," Zuckerberg said. "We want to support a development ecosystem where other apps can build on top of Facebook."
The fact that Zuckerberg referenced supporting developers indicates that the company is more interested in working with developers on applications built for Facebook. However, the wording of Zuckerberg's statement also leaves the company a bit of wiggle room if it is (or should it ever) decide to produce its own phone. You see, Zuckerberg has said it wouldn't make sense for Facebook to build a phone, but he hasn't said anything about partnering with a third party to build a phone, has he?
HTC refused to comment on this week's rumor that the two companies were working together on a phone. Facebook's statement on the matter revealed the companies commitment to work with 'the entire mobile industry' on its mobile strategy.
"Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social," Facebook said in a statement to Bloomberg. "We're working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world."
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android isn't really all that open...if it was then we could removed all the crap we don't need in the same way we don on computers
Even though they have a lot of users, people are starting to turn their attention to other things now. Not to mention their IPO fiasco didn't really help their image.
Even though Toms has a facebook icon on their website (as does nearly every website these days it seems), I don't bother using FB anymore. I would rather see my friends face to face then chat/post on some website where all the data can be seen if you don't have proper security settings set.
maybe they can make a toy phone
Blame the carriers for that, they are the ones who insist on making those apps non-removable.
lol...let's sue them
Generic Linux Android OS, by OHA, is pretty open. The vendors, such as VZ & ATT get a hold of it and basically make a "fork" of the OS that you are seeing on a phone. That fork is locked down, while gaining root access will alleviate that somewhat.
just root the damn phone, or use a custom rom on it, its a friggin computer anyway that has the added feature of having a GSM part in it, compare it like running a windows pc that you don't have Administrator privileges to. If you are to backwards to figure out how to use SuperOneClick or any other vairant that is out there go to a friend or a shop that is willing to do it. Also there are a ton of Custom roms for most phones that work better then the original (Cyanogen, Oxygen, MiUi etc) find one that has the most feedback and use it, im not saying jump the boat and run ICS on a gingerbread phone that does't have a factory made ICS, no way no how you going to be totally satisfied then, but trimmed down version of the original rom works wonders most of the time.
Buy a Nexus phone, or root your existing phone. Android is open enough you can 'chose' a manufacturer and phone carrier that does not load up the phone with crap-ware.
For the most part I would agree with you, but most of my friends (especially my oldest friends) tend to live very mobile life-styles (moving for jobs, schools, deployments, opportunities, for the hell of it, etc.), and FB has been an excellent tool to keep up with their lives. But yes, for my local friends, I would much rather just give them a call or text to set up a time to meet and hang out.
Also, I think FB stated going down hill a year or so ago. The demand for another social network is so strong that I am amazed as how hard Google+ failed. When rumor of it started then it seemed like everyone I knew (myself included) were ready to jump ship and move over. Sadly, all of our families and less tech-savvy friends did not make the jump, and so we have all slowly migrated back over to FB again.
I mean, how much free publicity would they get just by people who post 'I just gotz my FB Fone, itz sweets!!!