5 reasons Facebook should build its own phone

According to The New York Times, the social network is determined to roll out its own smartphone — perhaps to justify its value to Wall Street after a disastrous IPO

The Facebook app on an iPhone: CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly determined to launch a phone of his own, lest his social network fall behind Google and Apple.
(Image credit: James Leynse/Corbis)

Facebook plans to release its own smartphone next year, according to New York Times tech writer Nick Bilton, who cites several Facebook employees and allies. This wouldn't be the newly public social network's first stab at building its own smartphone, or even its second, and not everyone thinks it's a good idea. "Hardware is an extraordinarily difficult, low-margin, commodity business" that "Facebook knows absolutely nothing about," says Henry Blodget at Business Insider. But chief executive Mark Zuckerberg seems determined, reportedly hiring more than half a dozen former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone. Here, five reasons Facebook would actually be wise to build its own handset:

1. Facebook already has an operating system to build on

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us