Next week, Facebook is going to show us its “new home on Android.” What does that mean? We’re not sure—we could be days away from The Facebook Phone, or just a lovely new life-consuming app. But here are our best bets for what Zuck has up his Androidy sleeves. More »
Facebook just invited the press to an event at Facebook HQ that’ll show off Facebook’s “new home on Android”. Is this the much talked about (and denied) Facebook phone? Will Facebook be using the Android OS to build a layer of Facebook on top of? HMM. Or is this just some new version of the Android Facebook app? We’ll find out on April 4th. More »
Question: How do you attract a key youth, mobile-first demographic to your social network and get them to increase engagement? Answer: Partner with an OEM handset manufacturer to create a powerful yet reasonably priced branded device with all your software already on board. Facebook looks to be readying a follow-up to the HTC Status, a mid-market smartphone it released with a dedicated Facebook button in 2011, and a new leak shows off its specs.
Over at Unwired View, noted leakster Evleaks claims to have obtained a recent list of HTC Facebook phone specs (from a source with a proven track record, unlike another recent Evleaks discovery), and they confirm earlier leaks on the same, with some improvements for the better. The HTC Facebook phone, codenamed the “Myst,” will reportedly have a 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8960 SoC processor from Qualcomm, along with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which isn’t expandable. It’ll have a 5 megapixel rear camera, and a 1.6 megapixel front-facing shooter, if the stats are correct, and will run Jelly Bean 4.1.2.
The screen won’t be overly massive at 4.3 inches, with 720p resolution and 320PPI pixel density, but it should be a good-looking device regardless, with near-Retina resolution. That’s good for showing off Facebook’s upcoming News Feed redesign, which is hitting mobile platforms as well as the desktop over the course of the coming months.
The HTC/Facebook collab should ship in the U.S. by sometime this spring, according to Unwired View, complete with Facebook software onboard, including the app for the network itself, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. It’s not like the apps aren’t popular enough already, but a relatively inexpensive device with the software already onboard is a way for Facebook to target directly the market where it needs to start seeing more growth. The handset doesn’t seem to be too far below top-tier devices based on these specs (with the exception of that camera, which could use HTC’s Ultrapixel tech to still deliver solid photos), so if it’s priced right it could be a boon for both Facebook and HTC.
Zuck’s on the phone with (antsy) investors right now, and, of course, the question of the unicorn Facebook Phone came up. His reply? No, The Book isn’t building a phone. More »
Facebook revealed its Q1 earnings in an SEC filing leading up to its big IPO earlier this year, but it’s now officially out with its first earnings report as a public company. For Q2 of 2012, it brought in $1.18 billion in revenue, up 32 percent year-over-year and slightly better than what analysts were expecting, while GAAP net income sat at a loss of $157 million (down from a profit of $240 million a year ago). Looking at things on a non-GAAP basis, though, net income is actually up from $285 million to $295 million.
What’s more, the company also confirmed that it has 955 million monthly active users (or what it calls MAUs) as of the end of June, up 29 percent year-over-year. As you can see in the chart after the break, those users are distributed fairly evenly across the world, including 186 million in the US and Canada, 246 million in Europe, 255 million in Asia, and 268 million elsewhere. Daily active users totaled 552 million for the same time period, up 32 percent year-over-year, while mobile users now stand at 543 million, up 67 percent from last year. Not surprisingly, a huge chunk — 84 percent — of the company’s revenue comes from advertising, which brought in $992 million for the quarter, an increase of 28 percent from last year. That apparently wasn’t enough to please investors, though, who have sent the company’s stock to a new low of less than $25 (down over ten percent) in after hours trading.
Update: Expectedly, the ever-recurring topic of a Facebook phone came up during the Q&A portion of the company’s earnings call, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t avoid the issue entirely. While not completely dismissing recent rumors of an HTC-built phone, Zuckerberg did say that building a whole phone “really wouldn’t make much sense for us to do.”
Filed under: Internet
Facebook posts first earnings as a public company: $1.18 billion in revenue, 955 million users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Facebook | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
