First off, this is not an April fool’s joke and facebook will be making an announcement on Thursday. What facebook will announce is where it gets interesting. Is it the mythical facebook phone that makes an appearance every few months?
Facebook has a few challenges but the facebook phone is definitely something that they can do without. Why? Well, the mobile ecosystem globally contains so many players with a variety of operating systems that a specific function phone like the “facebook phone” almost becomes irrelevant. Will facebook announce a phone on Thursday? They might.
However, I think they will unveil a forked version of Android that will run on a specific HTC phone. The phone mentioned in various articles is called the HTC Myst (seen below).
This version of Android will have deeper integration with the phone book, messaging and camera. It is clear to me that Android is the platform that they want to focus on and a forked version will ensure a better experience for users who want to make Facebook a bigger part of their daily life. Users will be sharing more data with Facebook who will in return provide a more personal experience via this Android forked version. I wonder if they contacted a variety of manufacturers for partnerships?
Who does this benefit? I think Facebook is trying to show the mobile players like Apple and Google that they should not be taken for granted. HTC is in need of a winner as they have slipped down the pecking order in the mobile phone manufacturer list. Do we see a Facebook specific cellphone down the line?
Whatever Facebook does unveil to the world on Thursday, it is clear that that they have a mobile play in mind.
