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Facebook phone rumors resurface: cloud-based, HTC-built?

8 points by lotusleaf1987 16y ago

flashgordon 16y ago
If FB did come out with a phone, what would their OS be? Android? Windows X? Android would be awesome but that would be conceding too much to google.
- Garbage 16y ago
  The post says that it would feature tweaked version of Android.
  - idonthack 16y ago
    You didn't actually expect him to read the article, did you?
- wmf 16y ago
  Android is open source so they can de-Google-ize it. Bing, Bing Maps, Facebook Mail, Facebook Calendar, Facebook Photos, Facebook Market, etc.
bitskits 16y ago
I don't understand what this would give you that a mobile optimized site, or an app wouldn't. Given that, and Facebook's history of making private data public, rather abruptly (even today, with the news of sponsored checkins), I'd be interested to see how many people are really interested in this.
- alexgartrell 16y ago
  To answer your first question: deep integration. [Hypothetically,] now you can go to someone's facebook page, see your wall-to-wall, message history, and text history. It makes your entire social history easily accessible by unifying the data. To answer your second question, most people don't care about privacy as much as geeks do. In fact, most people don't care about privacy at all. Though it's tempting to say, "they're all just morons and they'll see soon enough," it's probably also partially the case that we (as geeks) are a little paranoid ourselves. At least that's what comes to mine when I hit someone's home page and see a PGP public key. Disclaimer: I will eventually be employed there, but it's not like I have any sort of a clue as to whether this is real or not.
pedanticfreak 16y ago
Why not? CES saw over 100 tablet launches, most of them Android based. Every big company should make their own Android spin. Even Disney has one: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/disney-to-sell-android-phone-in-japan-apparently-apple-doesnt/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/disney-to-sell-android-ph... HTC, Foxconn, and Samsung will build it with your logo on the back; Google will provide the OS updates; and you just need to provide the value add like integration with a popular service whether that's Facebook, MTV, or Disney. Even Barnes and Noble was able to make a nice Android device with its own App Store. Such a venture could easily pay for itself like Google's Chrome and Android projects did. It's a tough call. No matter what Facebook is reliant on Google and Apple for its mobile future. Then again the easiest path for Facebook (i.e. Android) also ties them even more closely to Google's whims.

8 points by lotusleaf1987 16y ago

If FB did come out with a phone, what would their OS be? Android? Windows X? Android would be awesome but that would be conceding too much to google.

Garbage 16y ago
The post says that it would feature tweaked version of Android.
- idonthack 16y ago
  You didn't actually expect him to read the article, did you?
wmf 16y ago
Android is open source so they can de-Google-ize it. Bing, Bing Maps, Facebook Mail, Facebook Calendar, Facebook Photos, Facebook Market, etc.

bitskits 16y ago

I don't understand what this would give you that a mobile optimized site, or an app wouldn't. Given that, and Facebook's history of making private data public, rather abruptly (even today, with the news of sponsored checkins), I'd be interested to see how many people are really interested in this.

alexgartrell 16y ago
To answer your first question: deep integration. [Hypothetically,] now you can go to someone's facebook page, see your wall-to-wall, message history, and text history. It makes your entire social history easily accessible by unifying the data. To answer your second question, most people don't care about privacy as much as geeks do. In fact, most people don't care about privacy at all. Though it's tempting to say, "they're all just morons and they'll see soon enough," it's probably also partially the case that we (as geeks) are a little paranoid ourselves. At least that's what comes to mine when I hit someone's home page and see a PGP public key. Disclaimer: I will eventually be employed there, but it's not like I have any sort of a clue as to whether this is real or not.

pedanticfreak 16y ago

Why not? CES saw over 100 tablet launches, most of them Android based. Every big company should make their own Android spin. Even Disney has one: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/disney-to-sell-android-phone-in-japan-apparently-apple-doesnt/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/disney-to-sell-android-ph... HTC, Foxconn, and Samsung will build it with your logo on the back; Google will provide the OS updates; and you just need to provide the value add like integration with a popular service whether that's Facebook, MTV, or Disney. Even Barnes and Noble was able to make a nice Android device with its own App Store. Such a venture could easily pay for itself like Google's Chrome and Android projects did. It's a tough call. No matter what Facebook is reliant on Google and Apple for its mobile future. Then again the easiest path for Facebook (i.e. Android) also ties them even more closely to Google's whims.