Bloomberg reported yesterday that Facebook “is working with HTC Corp. to build its own smartphone for release as soon as mid-2013,” vaguely citing “people with knowledge of the matter” (i.e. an anonymous source). But despite this rumor swirling around for years now, it will have to continue swirling.
During today’s 2nd quarter earnings conference call, Facebook’s CEO discredited the hearsay about a proprietary device, expressing the company’s intention to pursue alternatives “that aren't really building out a whole phone, which really wouldn't make much sense for us to do."
The Facebook team also revealed their struggles to monetize increasing mobile usage of the service; an exclusive mobile platform would give the company greater options - especially with regard to ad-placement.
For now, Facebook has a team of UI designers poached from Apple working on its notoriously sluggish iPhone app. “I think we're much closer to the beginning than the end in terms of what we can do with the apps we use today,” said Zuckerberg.
Facebook is expected to launch an improved and better-integrated app with iOS 6 this fall, with further updates to follow.
Source : feeds.ign.com
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