I wonder if they are marketing it to younger smartphone buyers as their 'first' smartphone. Sort of a familiar foray into the smartphone market.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if this is going to help Android in the long run. What if this facebook phone will to provide some continuity to Android. I will explain what I mean: Apple has the iPod touch. It's a great little device which does darn near everything that the iPhone does besides what requires cell service. Kids get iPod touches, and reasonably so - they are a great device for media. Now think about what happens when these kids grow up and want a smartphone. All of a sudden they are so dependent on the iEcosystem that it would be insane not to get an iPhone.
Enter Facebook Fone. Now we have a smartphone that young smartphone users can relate to. The HTC First - though not the most graceful name, it does have a certain ring to it. What would you like as your first smartphone? I think it's appealing (granted, the colors are overly pastel-y in my opinion) enough to be a 'cool' phone. And it's cheap enough where parents would probably not mind sending their high schooler to school with it. It's not going to have the insane specs of Mom & Dad's phone, but that is how it should be.
From the limited amount of use that has been shown, I think this could be a great alternative to the iPhone for first time smartphone buyers who have grown up with facebook. The nice thing about the phone is it looks like it left a lot of pieces of Android vanilla so people can get used to using Android while having the Facebook phone.
If marketed correctly, this could be great for Android and Facebook. Would people buy a facebook MP3 player?
I actually wouldn't be surprised if this is going to help Android in the long run. What if this facebook phone will to provide some continuity to Android. I will explain what I mean: Apple has the iPod touch. It's a great little device which does darn near everything that the iPhone does besides what requires cell service. Kids get iPod touches, and reasonably so - they are a great device for media. Now think about what happens when these kids grow up and want a smartphone. All of a sudden they are so dependent on the iEcosystem that it would be insane not to get an iPhone.
Enter Facebook Fone. Now we have a smartphone that young smartphone users can relate to. The HTC First - though not the most graceful name, it does have a certain ring to it. What would you like as your first smartphone? I think it's appealing (granted, the colors are overly pastel-y in my opinion) enough to be a 'cool' phone. And it's cheap enough where parents would probably not mind sending their high schooler to school with it. It's not going to have the insane specs of Mom & Dad's phone, but that is how it should be.
From the limited amount of use that has been shown, I think this could be a great alternative to the iPhone for first time smartphone buyers who have grown up with facebook. The nice thing about the phone is it looks like it left a lot of pieces of Android vanilla so people can get used to using Android while having the Facebook phone.
If marketed correctly, this could be great for Android and Facebook. Would people buy a facebook MP3 player?
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