Facebook Smartphone Could Be Launched Next Year

Facebook could venture into the hardware market with the release of its own brand of smartphone, suggests a report in the New York Times.

Information leaked by various employees of the company hints that we might see a Facebook phone as early as next year. The social network has recently started a drive to hire hardware engineers, including those from Apple, to work on an undisclosed project, apparently going to great lengths to keep it secret.

Masters of communication

As Google was finishing its £8 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility last week, the line between software and hardware companies became a lot harder to distinguish. Apple has been mixing the two for years, but many less fortunate companies (such as Dell or HP) have lost fortunes on trying to diversify their business.

According to New York Times, Facebook has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad.

If the rumours turn out to be true, this would mark the third time Facebook has attempted to build a smartphone, following an unsuccessful effort in 2010, and a project launched in partnership with HTC in 2011 that still has to yield results.

In the wake of its problem-ridden IPO, Facebook must find new sources of revenue in the mobile market. More and more users choose to access the social network on their smartphones, but until very recently, the mobile version didn’t even display advertising, citing the limitations of the platform.

“Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms,” one Facebook employee reportedly said.

The New York Times suggests that if Facebook fails with its own team of engineers, it could simply buy a smartphone maker. The company earned $16 billion from its IPO and could easily afford a company like struggling Research in Motion (RIM), which is currently valued at less than $6 billion.

Here’s our story from 2011 arguing that Facebook needs its own smartphone to fight Google. And here, you can read our article from 2010 putting forward nine reasons why a Facebook phone would fail.

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