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Will Facebook buy RIM or HTC?
The latest rumors suggest HTC and Facebook are working to produce a new Facebook phone. Project Buffy may be about to see the light. The recent IPO has also raised the question: will Facebook acquire its own hardware?
Rumors are circulating that HTC has manufactured hardware and Facebook has developed software for a new phone being developed under the project name "Buffy".
According to Daily Tech, Facebook is also using expertise from Apple, as several former Apple engineers involved in iPhone and iPad development have been hired to work on the project. Rumors surrounding the Facebook phone began to take shape in 2010. Nothing came of it at the time but new rumors flourished again in 2011. Now the question is whether the third time around the rumor mill will see results.
Facebook's competitor in software, Google, has already acquired hardware with the acquisition of Motorola and this may have served as extra motivation for Facebook to consider adopting a hardware approach. According to one source, Zuckerberg is afraid the company will be reduced to the role of software supplier for other interfaces.
The recent IPO gave Facebook around 16 billion dollars. For this money, they could very well buy the struggling RIM (according to the Daily Tech valued at around 6 billion) or HTC (11.8 billion dollars).
