HTC ’s annunciation of two smartphones linked closer than ever to Facebook will lead an manufacture tendency , analysts say , but despite the societal connection ’s popularity most users will at last prefer handhelds without the particular feature article .
HTC ’s Salsa and ChaCha admit dedicate Facebook buttons .
The Taiwan manufacturer ’s ChaCha and Salsa smartphones announced this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona grabbed attention for their buttons that connect users straightaway to Facebook .
HTC’s Salsa and ChaCha include dedicated Facebook buttons.
British speech sound Almighty INQ is coming out with a duo of Android machine , the Cloud Touch and Cloud Q , with consecrate Facebook buttons . Facebook is not the only societal web to expand to nomadic earphone . A handset already available in China links to the state ’s widespread QQ net chat avail . BlackBerry Messenger is a hit with teens .
More is all but certain to come as Facebook says one C of millions of people get to the free social networking service from mobile phones .
“ HTC ’s socially oriented ChaCha and Salsa smartphones certainly raise the bar in terms of wandering implementations of Facebook , ” say Nick Dillon , an analyst with Ovum in London . “ This deep level of integration could make the mobile experience of Facebook more compelling than other fluid versions of the practical software and , potentially , even more so than the full web translation . ”
Although there is no prescribed Facebook phone , the social media giant worked with HTC and INQ on their models . Facebook also grow applications for several smartphone chopine , include Apple ’s iOS political platform .
“ We need to make indisputable that everyone has a great experience no matter of the mobile machine they prefer to use , ” Charles Wu , a Facebook technologist working on mobile applications , wrote recently on a troupe web log . “ To attain this , we ’ve been work with several software developers , operators , and hardware manufacturers from the mobile diligence . ”
Manufacturers may also see the HTC models as “ the beginning of a movement toward a conduct mobile Internet experience rather than a general mobile net experience , ” enunciate David Wolf , CEO of Wolf Group Asia , a engineering consultancy in Beijing .
But analysts see limits . Some user are happy using Facebook via the basic Web web browser on be phones . Most people looking to promote would rather buy new smartphones that can reach Facebook via mobile Web browsers but not be bothered every time friends update Facebook position , analyst chew over .
“ It could become an irritant , ” Wolf said . “ There ’s a class of people who , for deficiency of a better parole , ‘ hold up ’ on Facebook . If you use Facebook entirely , then there might be a call for ( consecrate phones ) , but it ’s a minority , a small portion of citizenry who use mobile phone . ”
Sean Tao , 39 , a Taipei white - collar worker , is one of those .
“ I do n’t conceive I will buy a ( phone for ) Facebook since all the rest of the sound can give me somewhat much the same , ” he say . “ I think Facebook is somewhat drop off popularity now , since my Facebook and some others are extremely hushed . I come up myself replying less and less to other people ’s condition , and it ’s a sure game show that I am not working , so I am not concerned . ”
The most successful exemplar will immix Facebook buttons or software with other popular Internet feature , said Joey Yen , market analyst with IDC in Taipei . “ Facebook has a very candid attitude , so providers are trying different models , ” Yen added .
