The companies had intended to release the device as early as the end of this year, and pushed back the timetable to give HTC more time to work on other products, said some of the people, who requested anonymity because the plans aren’t public. Facebook is also developing a modified operating system for the device and has assembled a team of former Apple programmers to improve its iPhone application, people said.
More than half of Facebook’s 900 million users access the social network via mobile devices, while none of the $3.15 billion in advertising sales last year came from ads on phones. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg could use a Facebook phone, with social-networking features built-in, to woo marketers and assuage concerns dragging on the company’s shares.
“Usage is shifting to mobile, and they have not been able to monetize mobile,” said Victor Anthony, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets Inc. “To the extent that it’s a device you own and carry around with you at all times, and it ties into the Facebook experience, it will be beneficial. They could then put a lot of ads onto the platform.”
(Source : Bloomberg.com)
