Facebook Phone? Android Event Teased

Facebook may finally be putting to rest years of reports suggesting the company might make its own smartphone. On Thursday, Facebook invited members of the press to attend a media event at its Silicon Valley headquarters. The invite said, "Come see our new home on Android." One of the more prominent reports about Facebook's smartphone ambitions over the years is that the company would base its own device on Google's Android operating system. The invitation more or less confirms Facebook's interest in Android, but don't be fooled into thinking Facebook is going to make its own phone. (CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied Facebook's interest in hardware time and again.) Facebook already offers dedicated mobile applications for the Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone platforms. This new effort will see Facebook more tightly integrated with the user interface of Android devices, and may even replace the usual Android home screen with its own. The idea is to get people more engaged with Facebook as soon as they turn their phones on by making Facebook's Newsfeed and other features a part of the home screen experience. As it stands now, users need to actively open individual Facebook apps on their devices. Read the rest of the story on Information Week. — Eric Zeman, Information Week