Dive summary:
- After years of rumors, Facebook is set to announce its new phone and partnership with mobile underdog HTC; the phone will run a version of Android that heavily integrates Facebook's social graph.
- Facebook is not expected to "fork" Android, meaning customized the OS to not allow access to Google Play, Google mobile search and YouTube like Amazon did with the Kindle; the new HTC phone will have a Facebook-y skin built over top of the Android OS.
- The threat to Google comes from Facebook's seeming attempt to replace Google as the portal to HTC owners use to access the internet; when the phone turns on it will automatically display a user's Facebook homepage when the device is turned on.
From the article:
"Any immediate effects on Google mobile ad revenue are likely to be imperceptible, given HTC's U.S. market share. Still, Facebook's deep integration into Android illustrates the risks Google takes by keeping it an open platform. While app developers appreciate Google's willingness to let them experiment with Android -- especially compared to Apple's closed approach to iOS -- Google runs the risk of having Android coopted by a rival."
