According to a source speaking to TC, Facebook is currently working on a smartphone, one that they hope will rival Android and iOS devices.
Facebook is developing the mobile OS and UI, then working with a third-party to build the actual hardware.
The source says it has become apparent to the social networking giant that iOS and Android are becoming very powerful platforms, and that Facebook’s official apps may not be enough to stay competitive.
Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos, two of Facebook’s highest-level employees, are said to be working on the project, which would deeply integrate the many social networking features of the site into user’s contacts lists.
Hewitt was on the original team that created Firefox and was on the team working on “Parakey” before Facebook purchased it in 2007. Parakey was supposed to be a “Web-based OS.” He has also created Facebook’s “mobile” and “touch” versions, and the native iPhone apps.
Papkipos was working on the Google Chrome OS until he jumped ship to Facebook this year.
From this point on, everything else is speculation but it should be interesting to see if this “Facebook Phone” comes to fruition, and when.
Result for: iphone apps
New DMCA exemptions announced by the Librarian Of Congress make it legal, at least in the US, to jailbreak mobile phones. The new exemption also allows the rooting of Android devices.
The Librarian Of Congress found that jailbreaking is generally done to enable fair use under US copyright law and that the objections of mobile phone providers and vendors were based on business model concerns rather than copyright protection. The exemption for unlocking phones for use on different mobile phone providers’ networks was also renewed.
The exemption, which was proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and strenuously opposed by Apple, could open the floodgates for iPhone apps from major software vendors which would never have been available otherwise.
In addition to the EFF, the jailbreaking exemption was backed by such big names as Mozilla Corporation and Skype.
Thanks to Apple’s use of encrypted code during the boot process it was previously a DMCA violation to reverse engineer the iOS. This has allowed them, through the App Store approval process and SDK Terms Of Service, to tightly control what apps were available for the iPhone and even what tools could be used to create them.
The new rules could result in Adobe either releasing Flash for jailbroken iPhones or placing new emphasis on the Adobe AIR Packager for iPhone, introduced in the recently released Flash Professional CS5. Changes in the iPhone SDK TOS earlier this year prompted Adobe to halt future development of the tool.
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Result for: iphone apps
Note: Starting this week, we at AfterDawn are introducing a Video Daily segment relevant to the tech world and giving our users something a little “different.”
AdweekMedia has announced that Apple has won the “Brand of the Decade” award among others in their publication’s “Best of the 2000s” advertising awards. The company also did well in the publication’s Reader’s Choice Poll.
CEO Steve Jobs won “Marketer of the Decade,” mainly due to his innovations in the digital music world (iPods) and in the smartphone market (iPhone). In the reader’s choice poll, Jobs won by a large margin, garnering 51 percent of the vote. In second place was Larry Light of McDonalds.
For “Brand of the Decade” the margin wasn’t as high, but Apple still ran away with it, beating out Google for the award, and in the reader’s choice poll.
The iPod was given ““Product of the Decade”” by the magazine while the readers gave the award to the iPhone, followed by the iPod.
Continuing the same trend, the iPhone won “Digital Device/Platform of the Decade” in the reader’s poll, however Facebook won the editor’s choice.
“Marketing Innovation of the Decade” was given to viral videos by the editors, but the reader’s gave it to, not surprisingly, iPhone apps.
Finally, Apple won “Campaign of the Decade” for its “Get a Mac” ads, which show Macs (played by Justin Long) as the “cool” kids while Windows machines are virus-prone, and “un-cool.” The reader’s chose the anti-cigarette “Truth” ads for the award.
