Facebook is partnering with HTC for a Smartphone
November 22nd, 2011 - 11:51 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattLos Angeles, Nov 22 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Social network giant Facebook reportedly plans to come out with its smartphone next year. The company has subsequently contracted HTC to manufacture the handset which is expected to be named Buffy.
Facebook reportedly settled on HTC after the phone maker beat a stiff competition from rivals Samsung. The smartphone will run on Google’s Android OS and is expected to be released early next year.
A spokesperson of Facebook said that, “Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”
Facebook will not find the smartphone competition easy. The market has been dominated by Apple for several years. Other tech companies like Google and Nokia have all tried unsuccessfully to bring down the influence of Apple.
With the announcement that Facebook plans to have heavily modified Android operating system, Facebook seem poised for the challenge ahead. Facebook hinted that they chose Android because of the open nature of the software.
The device will be the first smartphone from the social networking site which has about 800 million users.
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Tags: android, application developers, facebook, giant, google, handset, hardware manufacturers, htc, mobile device, mobile industry, mobile strategy, open nature, operating system, rivals, samsung, smartphone, social experiences, social networking site, spokesperson, stiff competition