Android: The New Home for Facebook

Here we go again. More speculation about Facebook getting their hands dirty in hardware.  This is a subject that people should not get their hopes up for.  Last year, consumers hoped for a Facebook phone and forced Mark Zuckerburg to shut that idea down during an interview. He clearly stated that "he couldn't emphasize enough that there will be no Facebook phone".  Then consumers got excited again January of this year when Facebook held a press conference. The mysterious invite simply said "Come and see what we're building". After all the excitement and speculation about a Facebook phone, consumers and tech geeks got a search tool.  The search tool (referred to as Graph search) allows the nearly 1 billion Facebook users to search data and metadata about photos, people and other things of interest. This is impressive, but it is still not a Facebook phone.

Today Facebook has done it again. Facebook sent out several invitations to members of the press for an April 4th press event. With a mysterious one line invitation, they have stirred up people everywhere: "Come see our new home on Android".

Despite the fact that Mark has told us over and over that a Facebook phone is not the direction for Facebook, fanatics still do not believe him. I hate to be a spoil sport, but based off his attitude towards taking a dip into the mobile industry, there is no use in getting excited (for a third time) about something that is not going to happen.  As a software developer, I personally can say that I'd rather not get my hands dirty in the work of mechanics and engineering of hardware, and all the downfalls that come with having to create a physical tangible device that is safe and satisfies consumers.

Facebook can barely create and maintain decent mobile applications. Although Facebook has been around for years, they have failed to demonstrate that they can release a mature mobile app on any mobile operating system. Therefore, I am hopeful that this is what is to be unveiled at the April 4th conference.  Facebook, though it may have taken a turn for some, a still a highly functional, useful and intuitive social networking tool.  Their best bet would be to provide better functionality on mobile devices as our world becomes more mobile. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Importance of Universal Values in a Globalized Society

In a text prepared by Andrew Wicks, Edward Freeman, Patricia Werhane, and Kirsten Martin, the authors discuss various approaches to tackling business ethics in a global society. While there is some emphasis on different perspectives that represent extreme views on how to have a discussion about global ethics, the authors provide several concepts that present an intermediate platform to discuss conflicting views. Global goals, formally known as universal values, are just one way in which conflicts about sustainable development can be addressed. Global goals are important because they represent a “set of moral principles on which people can at least agree” (Wicks ,et al., 2009). This set of moral minimums provides overarching goals that address poverty, hunger, education, environmental sustainment, world peace, and global partnerships. Specifically, universally accepted global values bring people of varying cultures, socio-economic classifications, age groups, and professions togethe
Read more

PM Outside the Box

Image
With the growing popularity of social media platforms and their use as a key form of communication, I oftentimes find myself scrolling through timelines, updating statuses, and watching cat videos on mediums such as LinkedIn , Facebook , and Twitter . If you tend to do the same, I'm sure you have noticed a spike in quizzes that are supposed to either: a.) tell you something you already know about yourself or, b.) provide you with some result that makes you wonder "who the hell is this thing talking about". While these quizzes are sometimes just for fun and usually completely ridiculous, I recently came across a quiz while browsing LinkedIn called " What Type of PM Are You ". Considering my role as a technical PM, and a newly certified PMP (woot woot!), I was inclined to answer the questions and see my results. After truthfully answering a series of question which, in my opinion, only scratch the surface of what is required to determine the true management styl
Read more

Trick or Treat: Rumors of Official Announcement for iPhones 5S and 5C

Any Apple fanatic has likely already heard rumors about the release of new iPhones. Though not an Apple fanatic, I do own an iPhone and have been excited to hear about an official announcement about the release of the newest series of Apple iPhones after hearing rumors of its development for several months now. Well, the time has come. Today, Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 1pm EST Apple is holding an event at it's headquarters in Cupertino, California that will "brighten everyone's day".  Although it is still technically a rumor, there have been several leaks that have lead sources to believe that during this event Apple will be officially announcing the release dates for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The iPhone 5S is pretty much an upgrade to the iPhone 4S, but it provides some additional capability.  Sources have leaked that the iPhone 5S will look like the iPhone 5, but might be available made available in gold in addition to the traditional black and white.  It
Read more