Now that there are rumors that the Facebook phone is coming in 2013 it makes you wonder how this will affect sales of the iPhone 5, because we know that the two will have a huge battle on their hands to win the hearts of teenagers, which as we know is a huge market for both the social networking service and Apple.
We know that there will be many teenagers with an iPhone wanting to upgrade their phones later this year, but they might want to hold out and upgrade to a Facebook phone rather than the iPhone 5, which as we know is due for release later this year. Apple already has a huge following, but when you consider that Facebook has over 900 million active users how many of them will jump ship from an Android, iOS or Windows Phone?
Earlier today we reported that Facebook will once again be working with HTC with their upcoming smartphone, which is codenamed Buffy, but we have no clue as to what OS it will be running. The smart money would be Android with a custom Facebook UI, but they could even consider coming up with their very own mobile OS becasue we know they have the tools at their disposal to do so.
While it would be nice to see yet another mobile OS enter the mix, some would suggest that Facebook would be a lamb to the slaughter when going up against Android and iOS and instead would stand a better chance working with Nokia and Microsoft with their Windows Phone OS instead but would you agree?
It’s no secret that Facebook has made a few games a massive success thanks to their user base, and you can be sure that a fully-fledged Facebook phone along with its custom UI would take advantage of key features that no other rival phone would share with Google.
Facebook will have a huge hill to climb to take on other phone makers, but when you consider that Facebook is one of the most installed apps on smartphones along with the fact that more of their users are now going mobile, it’s not hard to realize that a percentage of those will be curious about a Facebook branded phone.
In closing while we can see a number of benefits for deeper integration with Facebook games with a self-branded phone, there is the worry that the only market this smartphone would appeal too are teenagers. However, let’s not underestimate them because we all did that with Apple back in 2007 when they first launched the iPhone, the rest as they say is history.
I’ve been an iPhone user for four years and no matter what rivals offer I will stick with what I like, and I’m sure that millions of others will feel the same, so no matter if Facebook has over 900 million users trying to persuade them to go with a different smartphone apart from the usual suspects is going to be a tough sell – just like their shares.
Steve Jobs' Atari memo, Apple I to go under the hammer - The Register
Steve Jobs' Atari memo, Apple I to go under the hammer
Bids for musings of 19-year-old pre-titan start at $10k
Posted in PCs & Chips, 28th May 2012 14:28 GMT
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Before Steve Jobs came up with the iPhone or even the Apple II, he designed paddles for ball-flipping games at Atari where the scruffy 19-year-old was employed to improve game design.
Sotheby's New York will auction off a document dating from Jobs's time there: a 1974 report that Jobs wrote for his boss suggesting ways to improve arcade game World Cup.
According to Jobs' biography, his Atari days are most notable for his clashes with colleagues, who he considered to be "dumb shits". He was made to work night shifts there partly because he was in a phase of refusing to wash and so he apparently smelt bad, causing complaints from his co-workers.
But Jobs obviously did some work at Atari too, with the document laying out his ideas for improving player experience. The typed four-page document includes three circuit designs in pencil and additional designs for the paddles and alignment ofï¾ players defending a soccer goal.
The catalogue entry for the Atari memo reads:
The present report, written for his supervisor Stephen Bristow, was meant to improve the functionality and fun of World Cup, a coin arcade-game with four simple buttons and an evolution from Atari's Pong game. Job's report is stamped "All-One Farm Design," a name appropriated from the commune he frequented at the time, and the address of the Jobs family in Los Altos. At the bottom of the stamp is the Buddhist mantra, gate gate paragate parasangate bodhi svahdl.
Sotheby's estimates that the memo will go for $10,000 to $15,000.
Also on sale in an associated lot is a working Apple I motherboard complete with a cassette – the machine is believed to be one of only 50 existing Apple Is and one of only six that are known to work.
The manual and packaging feature the Apple logo as it was pre-redesign. The Apple I is estimated to go for $120,00 to $180,000. The auction will be held at Sotheby's New York on 15 June. ®
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