I'm shaking my head. I'm literally shaking my head as I'm writing these very words. Why? Because the Facebook smartphone is apparently a real thing. 9to5Google reported that Facebook is all set to announce a Facebook-themed smartphone that's all about...well, Facebook.
TMO Artist's Rendition of Rumored Facebook Phone
You know, because what people say is that they love their iPhone or Android device, but what they really want is more Facebook. Allow me to proudly predict that consumers will greet this device with an enthusiastic yawn.
In any event, it's being made by HTC. There's no word yet on how this news is affecting glue futures. It supposedly looks like an iPhone 5 with a slightly larger screen, and it has a 1.5MHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage.
The best thing is that it's running a forked version of Android, which is hilarious. The two companies are bitter foes, with each working overtime to learn more about us so they can sell us to the highest bidding advertiser.
Which is no doubt why Facebook thinks it needs this thing. Just like Google and Apple, Facebook will be able to track users whereabouts, read their contacts, see who they call, etc., and Facebook can incorporate that data into their user profiles.
What's funny about the forked Android thing is that Facebook is leveraging Google's work on Android as a short cut to developing a device that Facebook will use to simultaneously compete with Google and deny Google the data that it sought by making Android in the first place. It will do so without actually paying Google for the favor, too.
Like I said, hilarious.
The question is who is going to care? Look, Facebook's mobile apps for Android and iOS are part of the reason people have taken to smartphones. The mobile Facebook experience is pretty darned good, even if Facebook has been slow to issue some updates on occasion.
I just don't see people wanting a "Facebook smartphone." I just don't. I never have. When these rumors first began surfacing, my assumption was that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was indeed playing around with a smartphone...
...but that was accompanied by the assumption that he'd come to his senses before actually releasing it. It looks like I was wrong about that.
I don't think I'll be wrong about its market reception.
Image made with help from Shutterstock.