Zuckerberg reveals why we're getting an app called Home instead of a Faceboook phone
Facebook's much-rumoured new phone isn't a phone at all- it's an app for your existing Android phone, Mark Zuckeberg, CEO of Facebook has revealed.
Zuckerberg at the 'Home 'launch
He explained why at a press conference in California, "The best phones sell maybe 20M units compared to 1 billion people on Facebook.
"Even if we did a really good job building a phone,it would only serve 1 or 2 percent of community," Zuck said .
"So we're not building a phone."
Instead there is the new app. "People look at a phone's home page 100 times a day," said Zuck. "It becomes deeply personal. So the new app is called simply that, "Home".
Instead of a phone, " we want t bring the experience of having a home, knowing what going on around you, to your phone."
Having said all that, the app - Facebook Home to give its full name - will arrive preinstalled on a new smartphone, First, made by HTC, but it will also be available for other Android phones through the Google Play app store on April 12.
Zuckerberg said "We all want to talk to people, not apps.
A friend with whom you are exchanging messages shows up as a "chat head" -- a virtual button with your friend's picture on it.
Your Facebook profile picture becomes a virtual "home" button.
Direct messages or notifications from friends are placed on top of "cover feed." "You can swipe on those notifications to respond to them."
The Home screen basically becomes a slide show of photos from Facebook, with comments overlaid.
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