It’s been on the top of the list of technology rumors for some months but it has finally been unofficially confirmed via Bloomberg, Facebook are collaborating with smartphone manufacturer HTC to release the Facebook smartphone some time in 2013.
Sources claim that the new Facebook based smartphone was originally set for a 2012 release but was pushed back until next year to allow HTC to develop and work on other products. There is no official announcement of a release date yet, but mid-way through the year seems to be the target at this stage.
The odd part of the story is neither Facebook nor HTC have actually confirmed the new Facebook smartphone. But it’s well documented that Facebook has been poaching former Apple and Palm design engineers to help develop and work with HTC. And the fact that Bloomberg have broken the story seems to be enough confirmation to get Facebook fans and smartphone technologists talking.
It is still way too early to tell what features the new smartphone will have, but it’s expected to be a custom built Facebook interface built on top of the Android smartphone operating system.
Unixmen.com will keep a close eye on this developing story and post updates as they become available.
Update: There has been some interesting news since this was first reported. See here http://unixmen.com/confirmed-new-facebook-home-service-coming-to-android
