If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. It would seem this concept applies even to Facebook, with a new report claiming the social networking behemoth is hard at work on its third effort to create a smartphone of their own.
The New York Times is reporting that Facebook hopes to release its own smartphone by next year, and the social network has enlisted the help of former Apple engineers to make that dream become a reality.
"This would be Facebook's third effort at building a smartphone, said one person briefed on the plans and one who was recruited," the report reveals. "In 2010, the blog TechCrunch reported that Facebook was working on a smartphone. The project crumbled after the company realized the difficulties involved, according to people who had worked on it. The Web site AllThingsD reported last year that Facebook and HTC had entered a partnership to create a smartphone, code-named 'Buffy,' which is still in the works."
Apparently, the house that Zuckerberg built has even bigger designs on the smartphone market, and they're tapping into proven talent to make it work.
"The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said," the report claims.
"One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he had met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones," the report continues. "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."
It would appear that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is afraid of simply being another app on existing smartphones and would prefer to control his own destiny -- which sounds quite a bit like Google, who only last week closed their acquisition of Motorola Mobility as the search giant seeks to jump into manufacturing their own handsets as well.
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(Image courtesy of Gizmodo)
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