Google completed its acquisition of the hardware maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which could lead to the search giant’s making its own smartphone. But another software titan might be getting into the hardware game as well: Facebook.
Employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans, say the company hopes to release its own smartphone by next year. These people spoke only on the condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing their employment or relationships with Facebook.
The company 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, the employees and those briefed on the plans said.
This would be Facebook’s third effort at building a smartphone, said one person briefed on the plans and one who was recruited. In 2010, the blog TechCrunch reported that Facebook was working on a smartphone. The project crumbled after the company realized the difficulties involved, according to people who had worked on it. The Web site AllThingsD reported last year that Facebook and HTC had entered a partnership to create a smartphone, code-named “Buffy,” which is still in the works.
The New York Times reports the social network is making a strong push toward launching a branded smartphone next year.
Facebook has even hired former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad to help make the device.
The report, citing "employees and those briefed on the plans," also says Facebook would not confirm nor deny the smartphone claims.
Rumors of a Facebook smartphone are nothing new. Several outlets such as TechCrunch have reported the social network was working on a device as early as 2010.
The most recent claims came from the Taiwan-based news site DigiTimes, which reported last month the social network was collaborating with manufacturer HTC on a smartphone with integrated Facebook functionality.
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