It was reported earlier this week that Facebook may be secretly working on a phone with an Android backbone.  At the time, we were looking at a they-said/we-said argument with TechCrunch implying it’s already in the works while Facebook was throwing cold water on the subject.  Given all the details early in the week, most of you didn’t expect to see an actual Facebook phone come to light.  In fact, based on some of your comments, some of you could care less about the subject.  Read on to see if your opinion changes…A new report from Bloomberg alleges that not only are Facebook working on a phone, but they are developing two of them in conjunction with INQ Mobile with plans to launch them on AT&T.  The phones, which could sell for around $100 after subsidy, are rumored with a July/August 2011 release.  According to Bloomberg, the phones will debut in Europe a few months earlier where INQ already has an existing relationship with carriers and retailers.

This is not the first time INQ’s name has been thrown into the mix – We’ve covered them a time or two in the past and even mentioned how they were hoping to get a strong foothold in the United States.  CEO Frank Meehan was quoted as recently as June as being in love with Android, saying, “We are going all-Android and touch.”  The handset maker already has a device coined the Facebook phone, so it might be easy to tie them to the deal.  On the other hand, this marks the first time we’ve seen a potential price point and release date associated with the project.  Looking at some of Facebook’s recent moves such as Places (check-in)  we can get the sense that they would really benefit from a more mobile experience.

So let’s throw it back to you.  Do you think Facebook

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Android based facebook phone? I’m hoping yes, Purely so the facebook app will hopefully be brought up to par with that iPhone thing everyone and there dog owns

  3. Isn’t the moto devour a “facebook” based phone? Dispite the crazy fame facebook has and the fact that its seperating people from actual physical contact I think this is a smart move for them. Way to go.

  4. lol right. I can’t really say I’m a fan of facebook, let alone a phone made just for them. I mean, isn’t it already integrated into most every phone by the custom system ui (scamsung, htc, motorolla, sony, lg) that these company’s have built into everyone of there phones? What the point of having a phone that is especially made for this when the integration (imo) is already seamless? Oh.. but screw facebook..who cares?

  5. Not actually much of a facebook user, but I think this could be interesting. What if, instead of having ‘with Google’ phones, they start selling ‘with Facebook’ phones? What if Facebook starts with core android, and replaces all of the google apps with their own? It would give you a totally tailored facebook experience that goes way beyond their crappy app. Instead of picasa syncing in the albums, you would have facebook syncing. All your contacts would be facebook contacts. Calendar, notifications, messaging… it would all be facebook.
    Now I wouldn’t be a customer, but I can see about a hundred million people in the US, who are basically glued to facebook, that would be.

    One thing that I think could make this VERY interesting is Adobe Air. Seems like people are really obsessed with some of these facebook games. What if you could play the same games you play on facebook on your phone? That could be a big push as part of the facebook phone.

  6. I’m just curious what market they’re pursuing and what they plan to offer above and beyond current smartphones with Facebook apps. I don’t see this going anywhere if it’s just a one-trick pony, especially if it doesn’t really offer anything beyond good Facebook integration.

  9. Facebook are just trying to find ways to tie their existing users base to the site as in the coming years there will be more competition for the the social networking crown.

  10. hmmm. I am just thinking about the whole privacy thing that facebook doesn’t really care about. I can see it now where every ones phone number will be published and will be getting strange phone calls from people that they don’t know. Oh yeah and there will probably be loads of adverts popping up on the phone.. I wouldn’t have one

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