Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#71

Post by andre3k1 » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 4:24 PM UTC

cletus wrote: post #50

I don't buy this at all. Apple has always been a hardware and software company with a very specific philosophy about user experience being everything. The digital music revolution gave Steve Jobs the opening to create the iPod that basically resurrected the company. That ply has been extended into phones and mobile computing. Google is (from a revenue perspective) a search and advertising company. Their business mode…

If they offered it as the premier messaging device, with all of your FB chat contacts auto loaded then it would surely appeal to the younger generations.

The only reason kids now days buy Blackberrys over iPhones is because Blackberry has BBM, a chat feature they want.

In terms of market share, this could attack the same user as the Sidekick did years ago. The ultimate messaging and social device.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#72

Post by jonursenbach » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 4:31 PM UTC

ludwigvan wrote: post #37

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #3

Assuming this is accurate, I think it makes a lot of sense, especially if it's based on Android. As it is, the bulk of people I see on laptops, iPads and iPhones in cafes are just using them as Facebook devices anyway. They might as well make it official. On another note, if I see or hear the phrase "Web-based operating system" one more time I swear I'm going to lose it. Fine, great, it's a browser-based desktop: tha…

It is probably based on Android if this is true. I remember seeing @joehewitt working on Android. See for example: http://twitter.com/joehewitt/status/20691624768

Or if anything, they're just rewriting the Facebook Android app.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#73

Post by madh » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 4:35 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #45

I'm probably going to be dead wrong about this (based on my track record), but I think this will be a total-loss. Facebook is not a hardware provider any more than google is, if google can't put the N1 out there and make it work I have a hard time to understand how a site like facebook would be able to. They should concentrate on improving their applications on existing mobiles in stead of rolling out a mobile of the…

As long as distribution and manufacturing are outsourced to an experienced third-party, I think a Facebook Phone that has service and hardware priced below the iPhone can be successful. It also doesn't have to sell a lot (a small sliver of the mobile pie is massive), would have a lock-in advantage, and would offer considerable advertising potential.

My gut says Facebook wouldn't do this because they seem to have very high product and engineering standards and want to deliver high-end experiences which would require high-end devices and software.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#74

Post by arfrank » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 4:44 PM UTC

Does this remind anyone else of the Peek? http://www.twitterpeek.com/

It seems like this might make Facebook more accessible for some group of Facebook users who aren't so computer savy. A dedicated device where you don't have to login, but you can see your families updates, interact, send messages, see pictures.

Also just did a quick check: http://whois.domaintools.com/facebookOS.com It's been registered since 2007, so it's certainly not something that's been off the radar from them.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#75

Post by bugmenot » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:00 PM UTC

Why is this written so poorly?

"Both have deep operating system experience."

"But he knows operating systems and he knows mobile."

"Papakipos is considered a rockstar developer, and there are any number of jobs he’d be able to do at Facebook."

"But that doesn’t answer the question of why he’d leave the Chrome OS project before it was finished. It would have taken something really interesting to lure him away. Something like a Facebook Phone, for example."

"Or who knows, the whole project might get killed before it sees light. All we know for sure is that Hewitt and Papakipos are working on something very stealthy together. And we have a source that tells us that stealthy thing is a Facebook phone."

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#76

Post by mattmiller » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:00 PM UTC

I doubt this is true, but I hope it is. The more non-carrier companies with money in the wireless space the better. Maybe AT&T and the rest of them will have to give up some control when every major software company is competing for it.

In six months: the Oracle phone. You heard it here first.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#77

Post by dawgr » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:03 PM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #61

cletus wrote: post #50

I don't buy this at all. Apple has always been a hardware and software company with a very specific philosophy about user experience being everything. The digital music revolution gave Steve Jobs the opening to create the iPod that basically resurrected the company. That ply has been extended into phones and mobile computing. Google is (from a revenue perspective) a search and advertising company. Their business mode…

What sense does a mobile platform make in that context? Absolutely none that I can see. How does it let them capture and control more data? It opens the possibility for more location-based services, and therefore more location data. I can imagine a mobile "Like" button that when pressed reports your current location a la Foursquare. A location-aware mobile platform would also create some interesting tie-ins with Face…

I was wondering the other day, does Facebook store the chat history? Is it legal for them to keep that data?

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#78

Post by okaramian » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:03 PM UTC

DougWebb wrote: post #69

iron_ball wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My "Google experience" Droid 1 does it too.

So does my Droid 2. I assumed this was part of Android 2.2.

Good ol Palm Pre does this as well.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#79

Post by known » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:05 PM UTC

Prior to building a Phone, I think FB should roll-out a mobile browser.

Re: Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

#80

Post by alex_c » Sun, Sep 19, 2010, 5:08 PM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #61

cletus wrote: post #50

I don't buy this at all. Apple has always been a hardware and software company with a very specific philosophy about user experience being everything. The digital music revolution gave Steve Jobs the opening to create the iPod that basically resurrected the company. That ply has been extended into phones and mobile computing. Google is (from a revenue perspective) a search and advertising company. Their business mode…

What sense does a mobile platform make in that context? Absolutely none that I can see. How does it let them capture and control more data? It opens the possibility for more location-based services, and therefore more location data. I can imagine a mobile "Like" button that when pressed reports your current location a la Foursquare. A location-aware mobile platform would also create some interesting tie-ins with Face…

But Facebook can/does already do all that on existing mobile platforms. Developers are usually more than happy to use tools provided by Facebook in exchange for getting easy social features and access to FB's social graph. Widespread use in 3rd party apps on all mobile platforms will give Facebook a much larger reach, for much less effort, than trying to launch their own phone.