This morning, Facebook sent out invites for an event to announce its first smartphone, which is said to compete directly with the iPhone. The event takes place on April 4 and according to various reports, the device would be an HTC handset running a Facebook-modified version of Android.
"With deeper control of a modified operating system would come huge opportunities to collect data on its users. Facebook knows that who you SMS and call are important indicators of who your closest friends are. Its own version of Android could give it that info, which could be used to refine everything from what content you’re shown in the news feed to which friends faces are used in ads you see," says the site TechCrunch.
Los Angeles industry analyst Paul Mueller tells us that the Facebook phone could potentially be a big hit. "Facebook could be the Amazon of the phone industry by creating a modified Android device that works for consumers," Mueller says. He believes that HTC has a lot to benefit from building the phone as well.
Twitter: @ddeino
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