Facebook unveils mobile tools but scotches phone
Facebook has released new mobile tools while quashing rumours that it is planning to launch a mobile phone.
At a press event in Palo Alto on Wednesday, the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, rebuffed the rumours about a Facebook-branded phone. "What a novel idea," Zuckerberg said. "Facebook's gonna build a phone. Um, no."
Facebook made a number of announcements about its mobile platform at a press event in Palo Alto. Photo credit: Sam Diaz/ZDNet.com
The social-networking company made three mobile-platform announcements: the release of a single sign-on tool, allowing people to access other applications with their Facebook credentials; the opening up of its Facebook Places API so that developers can integrate it with other location-based applications; and the launch of Deals, which lets retailers find Facebook members in their neighbourhood and offer them discounts as an incentive to visit.
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Facebook upgrades mobile platform; brings two-way interactions to phones on ZDNet.com.