Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
You are talking as if Apple had all of these features implemented when iPhone was launched. FB Phone only needs a really good single feature to be successful. The question is: what feature would bring to a phone a similar hype as when first iPhone was launched.

Nokia just launched the 808 Pureview, equipped with a camera capable of beating most dedicated compact cameras. I doubt this phone will be a successful seller, but the technology can be applied on Nokia Lumias. Then it will be a candidate to recover some market share.

Facebook needs something like this: a nice OS and at least one killer feature.


I guess any disruption is possible, particularly in technology, but it occurs to me this race may too hard to enter at this point.

The problem is to compete in mobile, it is no longer about hardware and an OS.

You need:

- Apps and vibrant developer community
- Simple system to update OS and Apps
- Cloud storage for apps and media
- Content deals for books, music, and video
- Integration to Windows and Mac apps (outlook, etc.)

It's possible FB can bring all of this to bear, or change the game, but it seems like a long shot to me. Nokia, Motorola, et al. learned the hard way that better hardware and software is no longer enough.

Plus, FB brings some serious baggage. Its core offering is increasingly viewed as spyware. Do people really want an ad company to know every email, phone call, web search, picture, etc., they make and send? I sure wouldn't.

More competition is a good thing for us. No doubt about it. And again, maybe FB has a way to change the game so it can win. But looking at the playing field as it exists today, this seems like a dollar short and a day late.
 
Last edited:
I agree with you that this is the case for people between the ages of 20 and 45. But folks older than 45 largely don't use Facebook and they probably won't ever get into a Social Network. And the question is if something new will come around that the kids will use instead of Facebook. The kids aren't tired of social networks. They aren't as vested in Facebook and they might switch.

Women older than 45 use FB to the max.

Every middle-aged woman I know is all up in the Facebook to get all up in people's business, real talk.
 
Facebook should stick to their knitting.

When is the payoff? Hiring some great talent is a start, but a lot of time would need to be spent to do better than either iOS or Android. A phone has to do more than run Facebook.

Why vertically integrate so deep into the technology stack? If the expectation is to profit selling great hardware, I don't see it happening for FB. On the OS side, I don't see what would drive them to customize; can't they continue to develop ad delivery / services on existing platforms?
 
You are talking as if Apple had all of these features implemented when iPhone was launched. FB Phone only needs a really good single feature to be successful. The question is: what feature would bring to a phone a similar hype as when first iPhone was launched.

Nokia just launched the 808 Pureview, equipped with a camera capable of beating most dedicated compact cameras. I doubt this phone will be a successful seller, but the technology can be applied on Nokia Lumias. Then it will be a candidate to recover some market share.

Facebook needs something like this: a nice OS and at least one killer feature.

You are talking as if it's 2007.
Every other month you get a new Android phone with the fastest processor or some "killer feature", and if people aren't using Android then they're using iOS. The market is too crowded to the point where there is no area for Facebook to make a business in it.

Please Nokia, RIM, Microsoft are all trying to keep their heads above the water that is mobile.
It is absolute stupidity for Facebook to spend some of the billions on developing a phone. But hey, blame the CEO.

If Facebook was truly innovating then they would look for the next big thing. They would realize that they can't win at making mobile and would work to create something futuristic.
 
Facebook phone really? Well that's going to be an epic fail.

Didn't HTC make a Facebook dedicated phone before?
 
You just talked to "_ DAVE (The Parole Officer)"

Here are some other people you might like to call:

Dave's Mum

Dave's hairdresser

Dave's favourite chinese takeaway

Dave's car dealer

Dave's boss

You received these recommendations because both you and DAVE have 'Share everything' enabled.
You can change this setting in Settings >Facebook >General >Privacy >Sharing >AreYouSure? >ButAreYouReallySure? >Confirm >ReallyProperlyConfirm >OK.
Settings restore to default every 24 hours in case you change your mind.


"Sorry, Dave's boss is not on Facebook. Would you like to create his/her page?"
...
"Done. Now, would you like to add Dave's boss to your friends list and send him/her a poke?"
...
 
It's funny how everyone is sooo shocked by this when Facebook have been in the phone biz for a while. Heck, the "Facebook phone" was released last year, made by HTC and running Android (Facebook could do what to Google with a Facebook phone again ?) :

20110720-12512123--img0266.jpg


For a bunch of self-proclaimed tech enthusiasts, you guys sure have bad memories about actual tech outside of Apple. ;)


Yea and HTC killed the phone in less than 90 days.....a total flop!

Follow the money.....................it's all about the scratch!!
 
I see what you are saying, but the problem with what you're saying is Facebook is now like an appliance. People haven't gotten sick of toasters or motor vehicles even though neither has really changed at all (toasters don't deep fry and cars don't fly). It sounds ridiculous but it's true. Facebook is as important part of American life that it is near becoming a fixture.

Yeah, but does everyone use blenders made by General Electric? So why should everyone use social networking made by Facebook?
 
This is sort of like Joe's Crab Shack building a Crab Shack Phone. Stick to web/software, guys... you're the Microsoft of social networking. People don't like your UI design. It's crap. We use Facebook because we pretty much have to, not because we want to.

What'll happen if they do build a phone because Zuck is worried that "Facebook will become just another app on other platforms" (YES! THAT'S ALL IT IS!)... All other functionalities will be seen through the lens of social networking.

They're not a hardware company. They don't put the user experience first. Could they succeed if they learned to transform how they monetize their platform? Sure. But they have to change significantly in their core values in order to get there and do it right. Otherwise, they'll fail as miserably as Google and Microsoft did at trying to do things that just aren't in their DNA.
 
"people will get sick of FaceBook"

I dont quite buy that. I think FB have managed to make their app into something people have integrated into their everyday lives.

You must be a Facebook loser. I mean user.

Here's another thought for you. Email, as a form of non-business communications is dying. Its been replaced by texting and FaceBook.

Wrong again. It ultimately depends on your circle of friends and what they use. Email is definitely not dying. It's still the easiest way to send large files, pictures, attachments, and just some good ol' long-ass messages. There's also a certain permanance to email.

The smartest thing FB can do is to simplify their product, dumb it down, and just leave it alone. Its not a sexy approach but it will work and assure them a long future not unlike the one Microsoft have with the likes of "Office".

This is true.
 
Last edited:
Why does fb need their own phone? What would that give them that apps don't? Do they want full control of the OS, so they can ram advertising into it at an inescapably low level?

Think of the possibilities:
  • They could insert ads into text messages.
  • Substitute prerecorded ads in place of ringtones/system sounds? ("incoming call from your mom - brought to you by Mrs Smith's Pies!". "This is your early morning wake up alarm - brought to you by Starbucks coffee."). Yuck.
  • Insert prerecorded ads into the middle of phone conversations?:eek:

I suppose folks might tolerate it if the price was right. Free is good, right?:rolleyes:
 
However, to think that a company with zero expertise in hardware design or OS design can just suddenly jump into one of the most cutthroat markets is pretty arrogant. Just hiring some ex-iPhone guys is not going to do it.

Hiring experienced talent is a time honored way to get something done quickly.

B&N and Amazon did it for their tablets. Google bought Android to get it done. I would also bet that Apple hired experienced contractors to do much of the original iPhone radio hardware and software.

LOL. The CEO who want to build a phone doesn't even know what chips are used in an iPhone. Shows how little (i.e., non-existent) FB's knowledge in the hardware area is.

That does not compute. Do you think Steve Jobs knew what chips were needed for a phone? This sounds more like a hiring interview question, to make sure they're not getting someone who just claims to have worked on the iPhone.

Why vertically integrate so deep into the technology stack? If the expectation is to profit selling great hardware, I don't see it happening for FB. On the OS side, I don't see what would drive them to customize; can't they continue to develop ad delivery / services on existing platforms?

Perhaps FB just wants to lock people into their social ecosystem. Works for Apple.
 
Why does fb need their own phone? What would that give them that apps don't? Do they want full control of the OS, so they can ram advertising into it at an inescapably low level?

Think of the possibilities:
  • They could insert ads into text messages.
  • Substitute prerecorded ads in place of ringtones/system sounds? ("incoming call from your mom - brought to you by Mrs Smith's Pies!". "This is your early morning wake up alarm - brought to you by Starbucks coffee."). Yuck.
  • Insert prerecorded ads into the middle of phone conversations?:eek:

I suppose folks might tolerate it if the price was right. Free is good, right?:rolleyes:

Well the user won't be happy about this, but the stockholders will be!
 
Why are you so mad ? Arrogance ? It's just a company continuing something they've been working on for a while and getting talent to make it better.

The Facebook phone was released last year. Was it successful ? No. Was Apple's first phone successful ? Heck no.

Some of the people here amaze me, if this story was about Apple getting Facebook engineers to make Ping better, you'd bet you and everyone else that's pissing in Facebook's cereal would be cheerleading like no tomorrow.

Drop the mass subjectivity and side-picking. Apple, Facebook, both are just faceless corporations. No one is harming you or your family, there's no reason to get pissed off at any of this.

Apples first phone WAS a friggin success, it changed the whole industry.
 
LOL! Apple created the iphone to make money, just like any company.
Apple created the iPhone because they thought all the mobile phones at the time were crap. Apple's focus is 100% product. As a consequence of making great products, people like them, buy them and thus makes tons of money.
 
A few more mobile advertising possibilities:

  • Without any warning, the phone in your pocket blasts an audio advert at random. FB spin it as, "A commercial break for your life(TM)".
  • Same thing, but as a text message. Hard to ignore, huh?
  • Ever-watchful geolocation blasts messages to you whenever you go anywhere near Walmart, McDonald's, or any other business that pays fb to pester you.
  • Same geolocation detects you entering a McDonald's and blasts a deal luring you to burger king (or whoever the highest bidder is) instead.

Can't wait :rolleyes:
 
Facebook phone? This is exactly what they need after a failing IPO, a phone that will tank.

wait did myspace make a phone? stealing their idea worked for him once. i really wish Facebook would just die!! i went on it a lot at first, now if it's more than once a week that would be rare. i weeded my 300 "friends" down to 20.
 
uh oh..

I see this being popular with the teeny boppers.

not going to lie, I think I'm going to delete my fb account soon,
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.