Facebook Phone Code-Named 'Buffy' to Be Released on HTC by 2012?

By Nicola Menzie, Christian Post Reporter Monday, November 21, 2011

Apparently looking to move beyond simply being an app on other company's smartphones, Facebook is reportedly working with HTC Corp. to build a phone of its own that could possibly hit the market sometime next year. Oh yeah, the smartphone's codename is "Buffy," as in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

AllThingsD reported Monday that sources close to the project revealed that Facebook, whose CEO and president is Mark Zuckerberg, envisions a smartphone with the social media nextwork "integrated at the core of its being."

The smartphone was reportedly being run on a version of Google's Android operating system that Facebook had "tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as to support HTML5 as a platform for applications."

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The sources also told AllThingsD that the project has been in operation since 2008 and that Facebook CTO Bret Taylor was in charge.

AllThingsD attempted to get an official comment from Facebook and was told:

"Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world."

HTC declined to comment on Facebook's smartphone "Buffy" project.

Why the codename "Buffy" had been chosen for the project is unclear.

More than 800 million people have a Facebook account and, according to Forbes, spend on average 6.3 hours monthly on the social network.

More than 350 million active users access Facebook through mobile devices, according to the company.

Forbes ranks Zuckerberg as the ninth most powerful person in the world as of Nov. 2011.