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Facebook Cooking Up Android-Based 'Buffy' Phone
Imagine a smartphone that lets you check your Facebook account anytime you like. Okay, wise guy, we're not talking about the iPhone—we're talking about a new phone from Facebook itself that's coming out in 12 to 18 months, according to All Things D.
The site says Facebook has selected HTC to make a heavily modded Android phone that "has the social network integrated at the core of its being." Oh, and it's code named "Buffy."
Facebook has been kicking around the idea of its own smartphone for some time. But the social networking giant only recently picked HTC to build it over Samsung, the other potential manufacturer in the running, according to All Thing D's Liz Gannes and Ina Fried.
Citing "sources familiar with the project," which is being run by Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, the company plans to build the phone around a version of Google's Android mobile operating system that Facebook "has tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as to support HTML5 as a platform for applications."
If so, it wouldn't be the first major mod of Android that a non-traditional device maker has attempted. Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet runs a heavily hacked version of Android as well.
This is all officially under wraps, of course. HTC isn't talking and neither is Facebook, though All Things D did provide the following general-purpose statement from a Facebook spokesman:
"Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We're working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world."
Up until now, Facebook has been content to work with device makers on better integrating the company's social services with their products. Several phones have dedicated "Facebook buttons" built in, such as HTC's Salsa and Cha Cha, and handsets from Inq Mobile and Motorola.
The Buffy phone would take such gimmicks and weave them throughout the functionality of the device, according to Gannes and Fried, "allowing users to upload photos directly from the picture-taking app, or to integrate Facebook contacts with the phone's address book."
But with competition in the mobile arena heating up—not to mention Google's direct assault on Facebook with the Google+ social network—it looks like Facebook is preparing to put some of its own hardware skin in the game.
Buffy also makes sense in the context of Google CEO Eric Schmidt's famous declaration that Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon represent a "Gang of Four" that dominates consumer technology. Each of those companies has a core area of strength that differentiates it from the other three, but each has also been increasingly expanding into the prime turf of its rivals.
So you have Amazon moving into Apple's iPad territory with the Kindle Fire, Google taking on Facebook with Google+ and trying to add some content muscle with a new music service to counter Amazon and Apple's iTunes, and perhaps Facebook finally joining the other three as a hardware player.
Sounds like a smart move for Facebook—but you have to hope Buffy really is just a code name.
Article from: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396725,00.asp
Imagine a smartphone that lets you check your Facebook account anytime you like. Okay, wise guy, we're not talking about the iPhone—we're talking about a new phone from Facebook itself that's coming out in 12 to 18 months, according to All Things D.
The site says Facebook has selected HTC to make a heavily modded Android phone that "has the social network integrated at the core of its being." Oh, and it's code named "Buffy."
Facebook has been kicking around the idea of its own smartphone for some time. But the social networking giant only recently picked HTC to build it over Samsung, the other potential manufacturer in the running, according to All Thing D's Liz Gannes and Ina Fried.
Citing "sources familiar with the project," which is being run by Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, the company plans to build the phone around a version of Google's Android mobile operating system that Facebook "has tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as to support HTML5 as a platform for applications."
If so, it wouldn't be the first major mod of Android that a non-traditional device maker has attempted. Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet runs a heavily hacked version of Android as well.
This is all officially under wraps, of course. HTC isn't talking and neither is Facebook, though All Things D did provide the following general-purpose statement from a Facebook spokesman:
"Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We're working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world."
Up until now, Facebook has been content to work with device makers on better integrating the company's social services with their products. Several phones have dedicated "Facebook buttons" built in, such as HTC's Salsa and Cha Cha, and handsets from Inq Mobile and Motorola.
The Buffy phone would take such gimmicks and weave them throughout the functionality of the device, according to Gannes and Fried, "allowing users to upload photos directly from the picture-taking app, or to integrate Facebook contacts with the phone's address book."
But with competition in the mobile arena heating up—not to mention Google's direct assault on Facebook with the Google+ social network—it looks like Facebook is preparing to put some of its own hardware skin in the game.
Buffy also makes sense in the context of Google CEO Eric Schmidt's famous declaration that Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon represent a "Gang of Four" that dominates consumer technology. Each of those companies has a core area of strength that differentiates it from the other three, but each has also been increasingly expanding into the prime turf of its rivals.
So you have Amazon moving into Apple's iPad territory with the Kindle Fire, Google taking on Facebook with Google+ and trying to add some content muscle with a new music service to counter Amazon and Apple's iTunes, and perhaps Facebook finally joining the other three as a hardware player.
Sounds like a smart move for Facebook—but you have to hope Buffy really is just a code name.
Article from: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396725,00.asp
