From www.wreporter.com
There’s a lot of talk about an upcoming event being held by Facebook and a proprietary smartphone is stirring in rumors
In an blog post we did here last week in the Daily Flux called, “The Current State of Mobility & How People Are Using It Socially”, it was reported by IDC that when it comes to smartphone usage, “Facebook is by far the most used social network even while running errands, while shopping, making meals and even at the gym.” Well, it appears some think that Facebook may be on their way in attempting to make your life even more FB connected via their own proprietary smartphone.
A rumor is circulating among tech news groups suggests that in just a couple of days (April 4, 2013) Facebook will be holding a meeting at their Menlo Park location in which the featured discussion may very well be a Facebook-smartphone.
According to TechCrunch, a phone by HTC will be Android based and have a Facebook-centric home screen, inclusive of the news feed and other Facebook apps.
Although April fools has come and gone, such a device as a smartphone from Facebook does leave one a bit skeptical, but Ron Amadeo of Android Police also came across some evidence which he believes points to the possibility of a Facebook smartphone in the process of development. If it helps at all, he also says that “[This is not an April Fool's joke. I promise.]”
Ron did an APK teardown of an HTC smartphone that goes by the name Myst (presumably the one referred to above) and found that not only has Facebook developed everything the phone pretty much needs, but it seems as though FB is also implementing their own ecosystem facilitation by creating an App store on the device as well.
The legitimacy of the entire notion of a Facebook smartphone still remains to be solidified until FB themselves actually announce such a device. In the past Facebook has denied any and all rumors that ever circulated with regard to the development of a smartphone by them. Computerworld’s JR Raphael probably said it best when it comes to this April 4th meeting and the whole notion of a Facebook phone. He said, “someone please restrain TechCrunch’s MG Siegler in advance, as I suspect he has a celebratory fireworks show on standby. When you put the pieces together, though, the notion of a single phone built for the social network sure seems like a silly idea.” Well, just remember JR, it’s never too late for a surprise from FB. An FB phone has been circulating since at least July of 2012 by wreporter, if not much earlier, but I suppose we’ll all just have to wait a couple days more and see what this ‘Come See Our New Home On Android’ is all about.