Jew World Order

In the very week that Google became a hardware maker, with the closing of its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, there’s talk of another internet giant doing the same.

The New York Times‘ Nick Bilton reported, citing unnamed sources, that Facebook is hoping to release its own smartphone by next year.

Bilton’s sources included Facebook employees and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans. Those briefed on the plans told Bilton that the company has already hired more than six “former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad”.

Of course, this builds on earlier reported attempts at a Facebook phone. In November, AllThingsD reported that Facebook had tapped HTC to build a smartphone that integrates the social network at its core in an effort code-named “Buffy”. DigiTimes later reiterated that report, saying that HTC was working in cooperation with Facebook on a phone that could be launched as early as the third quarter of 2012.

And TechCrunch first starting talking about efforts for a Facebook phone in 2010. It should be noted, as well, that in February 2011 at Mobile World Congress, HTC unveiled two new smartphones that feature dedicated Facebook buttons: the HTC ChaCha, which eventually became the HTC Status, and the HTC Salsa.

From Bilton’s report:

Now, the company has been going deeper into the process, by expanding the group working on “Buffy” and exploring other smartphone projects, too, creating a team of seasoned hardware engineers who have built the devices before.

One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said; Mr Zuckerberg asked about intricate details, including the types of chips used, he said. Another former Apple hardware engineer was recruited by a Facebook executive, and was told about the company’s hardware explorations.

Facebook, for its part, didn’t confirm or deny Bilton’s assertion that a smartphone project is underway, but rather referred him to a statement it had earlier given AllThingsD: “We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers and application developers.” A Facebook representative also declined requests for comment from ZDNet Australia‘s sister site CNET on the story, adding, “We don’t comment on rumours and speculation.”

Interestingly, Bilton’s story comes on the heels of a Business Insider report that lays more groundwork for a successful Facebook smartphone OS. It notes that just this week, Facebook rolled out Facebook Camera, not to mention its pending acquisition of Instagram.

It’s also all set with a Facebook Messages app, a Facebook app store and, just recently, the company has been reported as interested in buying Opera.

Purchasing Opera would point Facebook in the direction of launching its own browser and place Facebook in competition with other tech companies in the browser game — including Yahoo, which recently launched Axis, and Google, which has already released extensions to integrate Google + into its browser.

Tech blog Pocket-lint speculated that a Facebook browser “would allow you keep up to date with your social life from in-built plug-ins and features on the menu bar”, and The Next Web‘s sources say that Opera is in a hiring freeze, and talking to potential buyers.

Facebook’s move outside of the traditional social network could be due to how the newly public company has long been concerned about how the shift of its users to mobile devices is hurting its long-term revenue.

Bilton pointed out that rather than going against Apple in the smartphone marketplace, it could be Facebook versus Android-maker Google, with both going after buyers of lower-priced smartphones.

Via CNET