AppleInsider Staff
With a planned Facebook special event two days away, a photo of an HTC-built handset dubbed the "HTC First" has hit the Web, stoking flames that a true Facebook phone may soon see release.
The social networking giant is widely expected to show off a new operating system built on Google's Android platform at an event scheduled for Thursday, and some rumors say the company will introduce its own smartphone based on HTC hardware. In a tweet on Tuesday "evleaks," who has in the past outed a number of handsets before their official unveiling, revealed the HTC First, which could be the handset in question.
While the alleged picture does exhibit some aliasing around the "HTC First" lettering, the text overlay may simply be a label "evleaks" put on a legitimate photo of the phone.
Speculation of a Facebook-developed phone has been making the rounds for some time.
According to a recent rumor, the firm is looking to launch an iPhone competitor that deeply integrates its social networking platform into hardware built by a dedicated handset maker, with HTC being at the top of the list. The device could feature direct Facebook profile updating and a homescreen news feed, as well as quick access to the service's integrated apps. Sources say the mobile OS will be a "flavor" of Android with a user interface reminiscent of Facebook's iOS app.
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23 Comments
Yawn....
FB is already so saturated on websites (like this one) that it's hard to avoid. The FBP will be superfluous. And the very last thing I want is to have them controlling my communication. I suppose there are numerous Droid drones who'll flock to it, and maybe even like the virtual reality of a FB world, but I still gotta wonder how the company is going to monetize the situation.
FB is already so saturated on websites (like this one) that it's hard to avoid. The FBP will be superfluous. And the very last thing I want is to have them controlling my communication. I suppose there are numerous Droid drones who'll flock to it, and maybe even like the virtual reality of a FB world, but I still gotta wonder how the company is going to monetize the situation.
Advertising.
Either by putting ads in front of you or learning as much about you as they can to target you or sell to other companies.
That phone is an iPhone replica. Cue the lawsuits.
The facefone will be revolutionary. It will use advanced face recognition to unlock and log you directly into your facebook account