Friday, September 24, 2010 at 06:32 AM | Blake Robinson
It’s been four days since Facebook denied rumors that a Facebook phone was in development. We still believe that the social networking giant doesn’t currently have a branded mobile device in the works, but it’s worth re-examining the situation.
TechCrunch yesterday conducted a thorough interview with Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding the rumor. A crucial part of the discussion occurs when Zuckerberg says:
“…we invest differently in different platforms depending on how big they are, and how many users are there. So, iPhone is the one we’re investing in the most now, and Android increasingly. If Windows Phone 7 takes off, then I’m sure we’ll put resources on that.
And maybe we’ll build specific apps for iPhone and Android. And then, for something that is as important as iPhone or Android, we’ll also build integration into the operating system. So for iPhone, we built in contact syncing, and for Android we integrated and did contact syncing pretty seamlessly. The question is – what could we do if we also started hacking at a deeper level, and that is a lot of the stuff that we’re thinking about.”
The statement is a concise overview of Facebook’s current approach to mobile, especially as it pertains to hardware. It outlines Facebook’s strategy to develop applications for prominent mobile platforms and, when it makes sense, work toward deeper mobile integrations for enhanced social experiences.
The story should have ended there — but, of course, it didn’t. Bloomberg decided to get involved, writing, “Facebook Inc. is working with mobile-handset manufacturer INQ Mobile Ltd. on two smartphones that may be carried by AT&T Inc., according to three people familiar with the matter.”
Bloomberg’s report was enough to make TechCrunch question its own interview with Zuckerberg. The chain reaction has sent everyone back to speculating about the Facebook phone. The thing is, Facebook has been working with INQ for a couple of years now — it’s well-known that the companies share a common investor in Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing.
When INQ Mobile released the INQ1 back in December of 2008, the level at which Facebook was integrated led many at the time to describe it as “the Facebook Phone.” Zuckerberg was even quoted in a statement from INQ saying, “We are really happy to be working with INQ to bring its customers a deeply-integrated Facebook experience on the new INQ1 handset.”
In the two years since the INQ1 was released, Facebook has made a major play for mobile audiences. According to Facebook’s stats, Facebook Mobile currently has more than 150 million mobile users accessing the site with at least 200 mobile providers working to deploy and promote Facebook Mobile products. This isn’t a surprise; by all accounts, mobile is the next big digital frontier.
Facebook may very well release a phone some day, but that day isn’t today and now isn’t the time. What we have here is some exaggerated excitement over a relationship that has been around for years. So is Facebook still working with INQ? Yes, most definitely. But Facebook and INQ continuing to work with one another doesn’t mean that they’re preparing to release a Facebook Phone anytime soon.
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