This year has been wrought with so-called “Facebook phones” popping up all along the way and ultimately, only giving its users a colorful designated button, a few easy sharing features… and not much more. Facebook itself has served as a mere collaborator in these unimpressive efforts that came with silly monikers like Cha Cha, Salsa and Status to name a few. But now, in an effort to create a better, more “deeply social” device, Facebook has chosen HTC (even over manufactures such as Samsung), as its partner in the development of what will be the “real” Facebook phone, code-named, “Buffy”. Yes, that’s right, named after the TV show and film character. Regarding the company’s mobile strategy, a spokesman recently told AllThingsD:
“Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”
Staking their own claim of mobile control will be an uphill climb for Facebook, though undoubtedly a necessary one as its competitors, Google and Apple, are clearly the ones in control when it comes to their own operating systems. Further complicating matters is the recently launched Google+, a direct competition to its services and the fact that Apple is snuggling up with Twitter as its closest social partner.
Since Buffy is still in very early development, she isn’t expected to appear on your friendly neighborhood retailer’s shelves for as many as 12-18 months or more. When put into perspective though, the wave of innovations made over the next year could change the way we live and interact with people on a daily basis in a major way and on a grander scale, a real Facebook phone makes sense as the next step for “inherently social” mobile devices as Facebook CTO Bret Taylor recently called them.
[via allthingsd]