Facebook is working with INQ Mobile on two smartphones that use Google's Android operating system, according to Bloomberg. The handsets will be rolled out in Europe in the first half of 2011 and the U.S. in the second half.
Facebook is working with INQ Mobile on two social networking smartphones
based on Google's Android operating system, the latest step in the weeklong
rumor about a so-called Facebook phone.
TechCrunch
reported Sept. 1 that Facebook was building a mobile phone
operating system that would compete with Apple's iPhone iOS and Google's
Android platform.
Facebook
denied this was the case, citing partnerships and deep
integrations with numerous parties.
Bloomberg
reported Sept. 23 that Facebook is actually working with INQ,
which launched its INQ1 "Facebook phone" in October 2009, and
possibly No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier AT&T.
"We've been working with INQ for a couple of years now to help them
build a deeply integrated Facebook experience on their devices," Facebook
told Bloomberg. "While we can't speak for their future product development
plans, we can say that our view is that almost all experiences would be better
if they were social."
Just as the
INQ 1 was tailor-made for Facebook and other social network
access, the new devices will feature Facebook's social services and will be
rolled out in Europe in the first half of 2011 and in
the United States
in the latter half of the year.
Bloomberg said AT&T hasn't decided whether or not to carry the devices,
which would be geared to help Facebook extend its mobile user base beyond its
current 100-plus million total, in the United
States.
Any Android devices would compete with Apple's wildly popular iPhone, but
especially on AT&T, which carries the iPhone on an exclusive basis.
The devices are a far cry from Facebook building a separate operating system
to compete with Apple, Google, Microsoft and others in the market.
"Every phone is a Facebook phone or will be-people are increasingly
updating their social activities on the go and not just when they're sitting at
a PC," Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray told eWEEK.
"Facebook already is part of every smartphone and mobile platform, so
if Facebook were to launch its own phone it would be much more a branding
decision than a technical one."
The world, he added, is not asking for a Facebook phone, and there is no
compelling technical reason for Facebook to have its own phone.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told
TechCrunch his company is not building any specific Facebook
device, adding that his goal is not to compete with the iPhone and Android.
"Because we're not trying to compete with Apple or the Droid or any
other hardware manufacturer for that matter ... we're trying to build a social
layer for everything. Basically we're trying to make it so that every app
everywhere can be social whether it's on the Web, or mobile, or other devices."
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