Facebook could launch its own-branded smartphone before the end of 2012, according to an article published online Sunday, May 27 in The New York Times. The report suggests that the social network has called upon the services of several software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad for Apple.
The report comes just a few days after Google finalized its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, for which it paid 12.5 billion dollars.
According to The New York Times, Facebook could follow in Google's footsteps by acquiring a smartphone manufacturer if its internal efforts prove fruitless. Facebook, now a public company, is under greater pressure to find other sources of revenue, analysts have suggested, and the smartphone project could offer a new stream.
This isn't the first time the social network has been associated with a mobile phone hardware project. When contacted by the newspaper, Mark Zuckerberg's company neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.
