TechCrunch believes that there will be a cheap Facebook phone because of an unnamed source. However, other publications contacted official Facebook sources, who confirmed that the Facebook phone rumor is phoney.
Facebook has replaced the phone book for contacts. Integration with Facebook could make contacting contacts easier, which can be done fairly easily via software. The hard part to confirm is if Facebook is actually working on the hardware.
Jaime Schopflin, a spokesman for Facebook, said that Facebook "is not building a phone." Facebook's current projects include "deeper integrations with some manufacturers."
"Our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social, so integrating deeply into existing platforms and operating systems is a good way to enable this," Schopflin said in a statement.
TechCrunch reported that a source revealed that Facebook is building software for a phone and working to build the hardware for it. TechCrunch.com also reported Facebook wants to integrate deeply into the contacts list and core functions of a mobile phone, which it can only do if it controls the phone's operating system.
"The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a 'Facebook Phone' because that's such an attractive soundbite, but building phones is just not what we do," Schopflin said.
Then rumors flew all over the blogosphere with contentions that Google also denied rumors of an Android phone in the past and then launched the Nexus One with its own webstore. Facebook may have learned from Google's Nexus One failure, or Sunday may have been a slow news day.
Facebook launched Facebook Places in August with location integration to show where your friends are and where they have been. Epic.org was concerned about the complicated opt-out process for finding out where a Facebook contact is.
Facebook has become so ubiquitous with 500 million users that small businesses have flocked to Facebook, taking classes provided by local firms such as HUTdogs. It's presence is so pervasive that Wireless and Mobile News has opted to devote resources to Wireless and Mobile News on Facebook.