Does anyone remember the ESPN MVP? For those who can’t, before the iPhone revolutionized the smartphone business in 2007, ESPN launched their own branded product and service through Sprint back in 2005. Most people looked at the service and thought it to be overpriced and unnecessary, with many seeing it as dead on arrival. As expected the service did not last very long, not even making it a full year before ESPN announced they would discontinue it.
The reason I bring it up, is that ESPN serves as a warning shot for Facebook. The tech world can be brutal, becoming a launch pad or an implosion for companies with either outcome usually revealed in six months or less. So why a Facebook phone? Almost all of us who own a smartphone use mobile Facebook in one way or another. What could be the necessity for a phone centered around the social media giant? Well, like all things: money. Many experts expect mobile payments to be a massive trend in 2012, as yet another service gets consolidated into the mobile space. With that said, Facebook is behind the ball. Google launched Google Wallet in September of this year with the expectation of pushing payments through their phone’s near field communication (NFC) capability.
On the horizon, is the absence of the credit card and the implementation of the smartphone. Facebook recognizes this, attempting to claim territory in the mobile space before the barriers to entry in this digital frontier are impenetrable. But will it work?
Most of us use Facebook on our smartphones every day. We recognize the value of social integration, but isn’t it already too late for yet another smartphone platform? How far does the interlocking web of Facebook have to spin in order for us to see the value in a service outside the application we already use? Plus, Facebook’s new OS is rumored to be based off of the global-leadingAndroid platform. It’s no secret Facebook and Google are at war for search and social media worshipers, so why build off of your competitor’s strength? It’s like giving your enemy the keys to kingdom and then complaining when they overthrow you – not smart.
We already know that Android’s new operating system has deep Google+ integration as well, and that trend will only continue. It seems Facebook is trying to follow Amazon’s lead with how they repurposed Android to build their popular Kindle Fire. So it can be done. At the end of the day, the question comes down to: will people see enough value in a Facebook phone that tries to convince them to leave an already established ecosystem they have come to love? The tech world is full of examples, with Android being one of them, but in my personal experience, users are just getting comfortable with where social media has invaded their lives currently. Deeper integration may scare people away from stepping outside of their current app or mobile web. Facebook will have to provide real differentiation with its new platform that doesn’t off-put customers already out of their comfort zone.
To me, there’s a chance it could be in the same league as the Ford Edsel, Betamax Video, DeLorean, and New Coke. Facebook wants to push you towards web-based apps composed in HTML5. Although it’s more than likely the future, is it too soon to make that leap? I guess we’ll have to find out.
