Facebook has been rumored to be working on its own smartphone for some time, but now there are new reports that Facebook is going to take Amazon's approach of skinning Android for its own use. The modified version of the OS is expected to have very deep Facebook integration and will run on an HTC-built smartphone.
TechCrunch is reporting that the April 4 "Come See Our New Home On Android" event will be the reveal of an altered Android OS running on HTC hardware. It's said that this version of Android will have extra Facebook functionality built in. It has been described as Facebook's iOS 6 integration but on steroids, and built completely by Facebook.
A major feature being discussed is something that could be called "Facebook Home": it supposedly will have a "heavily Facebook-ified mobile phone home screen. This could include Facebook news feed stories and data splayed out right on the home screen, along with easy access to Facebook apps."
Facebook has recently been focusing a lot of attention on its mobile apps on iOS and Android, since more people are using mobile devices instead of computers. It's believed that Facebook, like Amazon, wants deeper control of a modified operating system.
"With deeper control of a modified operating system would come huge opportunities to collect data on its users. Facebook knows that who you SMS and call are important indicators of who your closest friends are. Its own version of Android could give it that info, which could be used to refine everything from what content you're shown in the news feed to which friends faces are used in ads you see."
Do you think Facebook will actually launch a smartphone at this event? Let us know what you think in the comments.
