14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is making its own smartphone, according to American newspapers this past weekend. The social network has reportedly hired not one, but at least six former Apple staffers who worked on the iPhone and the iPad in different tenures.
The Apple blogosphere is already abuzz with the NY Times blogging about people briefed on the plans as saying that Facebook has hired half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and at least one person who oversaw the development of the first iPad.
One of the engineers who no longer works at Apple reportedly had a meet-up with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, to discuss smartphones from a hardware perspective.
Zuckerberg was particularly interested in the types of chips used to make the Apple iPhone.
Another recently-recruited staffer reportedly confirmed Facebook’s recent “hardware explorations.”
The newspaper notes that Facebook has been tinkering with this idea for more than two years now. Led by Mark Zuckerberg, the people maintaining the giant social network reportedly realized (at one point in time) that their business needed to expand beyond in-house developments.
Apple and Facebook are known to have clashed during discussions over integrating iOS with the popular social networking service, which is why Apple eventually went with Twitter, and then developed its own social network called Ping. The latter eventually proved to be a flop.
Facebook has continued to show interest in the iOS platform by rolling out dedicated iPhone and iPad clients, then a Messaging app and, more recently, its Camera application looking to rival Instagram.
It would be awesome for Facebook to release a social-centric smartphone with all these services integrated as apps, each with its own sleek interface, as the service keeps expanding with new features and functionality.
Let’s clarify: it would be awesome for Facebook lovers, not for those who condemn the act of digitizing your whole life on some server farm in Prineville, Oregon.