With Mobile World Congress currently going on over in Barcelona, all the big news this week is about mobile devices, be it phones or tablets.
Today saw HTC take the stage to show off their new wares, with their new Facebook phones taking center stage. With both the ChaCha and Salsa (yes, that"s what they"re really called) sporting a new Facebook button, it"s clear the social network is taking this mobile thing seriously. So seriously in fact that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to drop in via video (courtesy of ElectricPig.co.uk) to explain the state-of-play.
According to "the Zuck", the current offerings from HTC and INQ won"t be the only handsets to receive the Facebook treatment. In his somewhat wooden performance, Zuckerberg goes on to say that "dozens" of handsets are currently in the works and that we can expect "much deeper social integration" as the year rolls on.
With each passing day, it"s becoming clear that Facebook is starting to become the de-facto standard for many people"s online communication, and indeed their lives. Could a Facebook button, or perhaps integration directly into the operating system"s features be enough to sway potential buyers toward a handset? Time will tell, but with current Facebook figures topping 600 million users and climbing, if the social networking behemoth can get this right, there"s a real possibility they could become the next Microsoft.