Does Facebook phone have Apple DNA?
Over the years we’ve seen and heard of a number of so-called ‘Facebook phones’ branded with the famous logo. Now it appears we’re set for another. However, the next one could be special, as reports suggest Facebook has signed up Apple iPad and iPhone engineers to make a Facebook phone capable of competing with the iPhone itself.
Past Facebook phones have at times been little more than regular smartphones, slapped with the Facebook logo, boasting a shortcut button to the world’s most popular social networking site (think HTC Cha Cha). What makes the latest version a different proposition is reports that it will be built with full input from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and be built with expertise from ex-Apple engineers.
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The New York Times reports that Facebook has hired “more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad” to work on a new Facebook smartphone, which has apparently been code-named “Buffy”. Why a Facebook phone? It is reported that Zuckerberg fears that Facebook will be nothing more than an app on a smartphone that can easily be pushed aside on the mobile arena.
Bu pushing out a phone of its own, Facebook will be at the forefront of every service on it. For evidence pointing to the reported strategy we can look to some of Facebook’s recent launches.
Facebook Messenger recently launched on Windows Phone, its Facebook photo gallery also received a high resolution upgrade, and Facebook has just launched a new Facebook Camera app, which Facebook will be hoping becomes the default way we snap and share photos.
Group these together and you’ve got the makings of a library of services that could be tied up and packaged as the default services on a dedicated Facebook phone, much like Apple’s iOS iMessaging service, and its own suite of features. Or so that would appear to be the plan.
It opens the door for more possibilities. Facebook Video? Facebook reminders that tie in with Facebook’s existing ‘events’ feature?
We’ll be looking out for more clues that point to Facebook’s future plans. Would you purchase a Facebook smartphone if it was made by Apple engineers?
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