Facebook Makes the Mobile Phone Push
Though Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly denied rumors that his company was preparing a Facebook phone, the CEO raised surprised few observers when he announced that Facebook would be coming to “dozens of phones” in the coming months.In phones like HTC’s ChaCha and Salsa, this inclusion took the form of a dedicated Facebook button and ease of access to the Facebook service. More significant was the announcement by digital security company Gemalto that it had designed a SIM card with Facebook already built into it. The feature would allow all phones, even comparatively simple “dumb” phones, to interact with the Facebook service. With the move Facebook will be given unparalleled access to the rapidly expanding Asian and African phone markets, allowing the social networking site’s influence to extend even further. HTC

Smartphone maker HTC has rolled out two new phones - HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa - with a dedicated Facebook button for one-touch access to the key functions of the social networking service.

The two models feature Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 and use the latest iteration of its Sense user interface to integrate Facebook.

The ChaCha model features of a QWERTY keyboard, a 2.6-inch display with 480 x 320 resolution, while the HTC Salsa boasts of a 3.4-inch, 480 x 320 resolution touch screen. Common features between these smartphones include a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 processor, 512MB of both RAM and ROM, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, and a VGA front-facing camera.

In the United States, HTC plans to bring the new phones to market later this year exclusively with AT&T. The new models will be available across major European and Asian markets during the second quarter.

With more than 500 million active users worldwide, Facebook has become synonymous with the social web and we wanted to create the ultimate socially connected phones with mass market appeal, said HTC chief executive Peter Chou.

According to the company, the Facebook button on these phones is context-aware, gently pulsing with light whenever there is an opportunity to share content or updates through Facebook. While listening to music, users can simply press the button and the phone will automatically identify the track and share it on Facebook.

When you make a phone call, the dialer screen displays your friend’s latest status and photos, and even tells you if their birthday is approaching. The same updates are also displayed when you receive a call from a Facebook friend, HTC said.

Henri Moissinac, Head of Mobile Business for Facebook said HTC has brought Facebook to these two new devices in an innovative way enabling people to connect and share easily whenever they want, wherever they are.

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