
Facebook smartphone with HTC launching soon - rjvir
http://9to5google.com/2013/03/28/facebook-smartphone-with-htc-launching-soon-ad-campaign-in-the-works/
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hospadam
Personal disclosure - I'm not interested in a Facebook phone in the slightest
(mostly for privacy concerns).

I think this is an interesting concept. Let's assume it is in fact a total
fork of Android, in essence, a "Facebook Phone". I really think (as big as
Facebook is) they will have a hard time with this. I'm not sure there is space
for another type of device - even if it is a massive consumer brand.

I get the sense that a lot of people use Facebook for it's utility... but I
think it has lost it's "cool factor" with the general public. I can't see a
lot of people thinking "man - I really want deeper integration with Facebook!"
Isn't the FB app good enough for most people?

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EvanKelly
Don't forget that Facebook owns Instagram as well. My non-tech friends (most
of them) use exactly 2 apps regularly on their phones. Facebook and Instagram.
I'm not sure any of them would jump at a Facebook branded phone, but I think a
phone with Instagram in mind as the key feature (e.g. an awesome camera,
integrated filters, not sure what else) might strike a chord with some of my
friends.

EDIT: Almost forgot about Vine. That seemed to blow up in popularity in my
demographic recently here in Hawaii. if Facebook owned Vine, they would have
the holy trinity of apps.

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Mahn
> if Facebook owned Vine, they would have the holy trinity of apps.

Just for the record, Vine belongs to Twitter, so don't count on that happening
any time soon :)

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niggler
"don't count on that happening any time soon :)"

If Facebook offered 20B for Twitter, would Dorsey et al sell?

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Mahn
Forget it, if there was a time when Facebook could have bought Twitter that
might have been 4-5 years ago, but that ship sailed for good.

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libayrian
twitter is the more valuable company long term imo

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Mahn
Perhaps it's a bit paranoid to say this, but note that we are dangerously
close to April 1st.

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unclebucknasty
I was thinking this exactly. This actually looks like an April Fool's
headline/article.

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unclebucknasty
Blech. No privacy concerns here.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend a while back. She called
me one day and I noticed that her photo had suddenly begun showing with her
contact record on my phone. Thing is, it wasn't a photo from FB or any social
networks, or anywhere else obvious that she could recall posting.

Now, we are both pretty tech, so I'm sure if we really wanted to sleuth it out
we could have run it down. But, the point was that we are in this online space
and it was non-obvious how this photo was being associated with her contact
record on my phone.

I can only imagine how many unknown ways FB would get their hooks into someone
carrying their phone.

As someone else mentioned, this has to be an early April Fool's joke.

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nickconfer
I find it flawed logic to think that just because a user loves Facebook
they'll love a Facebook phone. Or likewise, because they do not like Facebook,
they'll hate a Facebook phone.

The Android phone is not successful because it contained Google search and
Google maps. These features existed on other smart phones before Android.
Liking products or services made by a company helps introduce consumers faster
to a new product line, but it is not a guarantee for success or failure.

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shmerl
That's like a Facebook tracking multiplied by carrier tracking? Super big
brother %) Who would buy that?

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pasbesoin
Meta and/or OT: I simply don't believe public statements nor PR, any more.

I seem to recall prior FB comments on this (PR or senior executives) being:
We're not doing a phone.

So... "strategic" and "protecting our interests" and "must maximize our value"
and "timing" and... Lots of arguments for not giving a straight answer prior
to this (even if that is "no comment").

However, with all the talk of "corporate personhood" being bandied about,
these days, I'm going to choose to treat businesses that do this the same way
I'd treat an individual that did so. You lied.

Why, then, should I believe anything else you're telling me?

Again, this is aside from the specific topic of this phone. Nonetheless, I
find it pertinent.

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k-mcgrady
From this article they still aren't doing a phone. HTC are doing a phone and
Facebook is partnering with them to run a forked version of Android on it,
which will obviously be integrated nicely with Facebook.

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ok_craig
I thought Open Handset Alliance partners couldn't sell devices running a true
Android fork without losing Google as a partner? How will that come into play
here?

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AnthonyMouse
Facebook has been known to partner with Microsoft. It's possible that the
phone will be full of Bing.

On the other hand, Microsoft is trying to promote their own phone OS, and this
phone is _clearly_ DOA if it doesn't run Android apps, but I can't see
Microsoft liking the idea of promoting the Android ecosystem.

It's kind of funny actually. You could see how it could make sense for
Microsoft and Facebook to work together and create some Facebook Phone running
WP8, except they each probably think the other is going to fail and don't want
to board a sinking ship.

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nivla
>Facebook has been known to partner with Microsoft.

Not very likely, given the fact that Windows Phone has yet to receive an
official Facebook app. However, design wise the windows 8 tile architecture
would be the perfectly suited for Facebook and Instagram. Its all about how
you pull it off, but given how buggy and incomplete my Facebook app on Nexus 7
is, I hardly have any faith in FB.

On the side note, they should have partnered with Nokia instead of HTC.

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grbalaffa
I think we've been here before:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwQkU7jLXRY#t=18s>

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nabaraj
I think facebook already has what it needs for a smartphone.

Voice and Video: Facebook Video Calling

Messaging: Facebook Messenger

Photos: Facebook instagram

Contacts: Facebook friends

Games: Facebook's online games

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jimzvz
I really wish something like diaspora would replace facebook. Any ideas how to
work towards this?

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arindone
get the average person to care?

currently anyone in the world on pretty much ANY device can access, register
an account, and connect fast and easy to their nearby friends on Facebook. The
FB philosophy is to "make the world more open and connected" , not "help
connect relatively wealthy, tech oriented people." Diaspora has a number of
<i> significant </i> hurdles it needs to tackle to just be in the
conversation:

1) Ease of access from any device -- can some rando in Egypt open up a 'dumb'
phone, sign into his account, and enter the political discourse relatively
easily? Twitter is getting there on this account, and it's why Twitter is in
the conversation.

2) Scale -- currently everyone and their mom (and dad, grandparents, cousins,
long-distant alumni friends, etc.) is on Facebook. For a social network to
"replace Facebook" in your words, their needs to be a solid value proposition
over Facebook that causes huge droves of people to move away or switch.
Currently there's little -- maybe privacy controls could be easier to use, but
Zuck himself said that users control their data already: "Our philosophy is
that people own their information and control who they share it with." Other
than that -- why would the average person put in the "activation energy" over
inertia to switch, other than "it's shiny and cool?"

In all Diaspora is an interesting project, but it has little differentiating
value prop

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dannyr
"Come see our new home on Android" to me seems like Facebook is releasing a
home screen replacement than an actual phone.

There are a bunch of apps like these such as Nova and Go Launcher.

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andyv88
Maybe a combination of both?

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dannyr
I just don't see a forked Android mainly because Facebook doesn't have the app
ecosystem yet that could replace the default Google apps. These apps will not
be available for a forked Android OS.

I think this is the reason why there isn't an Amazon phone yet. For example
with Maps, Amazon is still building its Map service.

======

(edit) I guess they could release an Android phone with the Facebook Home
Replacement installed by default.

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cederberg
A Facebook phone makes no sense. So it seems probable that this is just one or
two new apps for Android. Similar to their remake of the iOS apps a while ago.

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kayoone
I just hope they stay true to the Android core, we dont really need another
mobile OS that is based on Android but isnt compatible.

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Mahn
According to TechCrunch the press invitation says "Come see our new home on
Android"; if they were to take Amazon's approach I would expect them to omit
mentioning Android completely, so I guess this tells something.

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Apocryphon
I was wondering if they were going to build their own OS, to be honest. Maybe
they'll fork Android?

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colmvp
"This will be a deeper, forked version of Android rather than a Facebook-ified
version of Sense."

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gailees
Hmm...this could explain why Zuck started encouraging employees to switch to
Android.

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gailees
Woah! I've been waiting on this for years now. Will be interesting to see how
Google reacts...

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nivla
>Will be interesting to see how Google reacts...

I hope they don't come up with the dumb idea to create a Google+ phone. People
tend make irrational decisions when confronted with uncertainty.

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songgao
John Doe called a friend.

Like · Comment · Share · 2 minutes ago near a Gopher

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drivebyacct2
That mockup is fucking ridiculous.

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gailees
how so?

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blairbeckwith
It's an iPhone 5 with the touch buttons added.

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thewizard25
Google's going down.

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toomuchtodo
Sure, because when I need information, I think "I'll Facebook it". _rolls
eyes_

