I admit this might sound a little crazy, but last night I woke up after having a dream about a brand new device that I was able to “imagine” up. I called it the Facebook Phone, and even though it is firmly grounded in my imagination, i think it really could be a real product.
It may have been the near infinite number of droid and “Google” phone ads that have peppered the television lately that got me on this train of thought. Why couldn’t there be a “Facebook Phone?” And, what makes Google such a logical choice for phone provider?
If we’re talking about services, then lets compare offerings. True, Google has a stranglehold on the search market, and yes, they make some nifty tools like Google maps that work so well on a GPS enabled phone. Don’t forget about Google mail either, the gold standard for free webmail.
Facebook on the other hand, well, its becoming the hub for everything.
- Real time communication (via Facebook chat and push notification)
- Address book
- Social gaming
- Calendar
- Accounts (via Facebook Connect)
- Photos and Video Sharing
My theory is that Facebook has as much claim to its own mobile device (phone is the logical choice, but technically it could be some other form factor) as Google does.
I believe it is only a matter of time before Facebook search becomes as valuable as Google search. It would be interesting to see a study on this, but I’ve definitely noticed myself using Google search less over the past year as I have been pushed interesting news, content and updates from the sources I care about via Facebook (via facebook page updates, etc).
Would you buy and use a Facebook Phone if it were on a decent carrier? Has Facebook become as essential to your communications as Google?