In the aftermath of Facebook’s bungled IPO, a list of questions remain about the social network’s plans to profit. And at the top of this list is a question we saw time and time again during the IPO build up: How does Facebook monetize its growing mobile trend?
According to a recent New York Times report, Facebook has its answer: a Facebook Smartphone, set to be released by 2013.
The Times report, citing a number of anonymous sources affiliated with Facebook, claims the company is beefing up an engineering team tasked with building its own cell phone. This would be Facebook’s third attempt at a smartphone: its first effort failed in 2010, and then last year, it was reported that a partnership had been entered with smartphone manufacturer HTC to create a phone code-named “Buffy.”
Now, the Buffy team has reportedly been expanded, and the smartphone effort seems stronger than ever. But is the Facebook smartphone a good idea? Henry Blodget, CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, doesn’t think so and he joins to explain why.
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