Mark Zuckerberg: It doesn’t make sense for Facebook to build its own phone

During the Facebook earnings call today, Mark Zuckerberg was asked about the rumors of Facebook building its own phone with HTC.

His response was:

Building out a whole phone really wouldn’t make much sense for us to do.

While Facebook has reiterated that it is dedicated to developing mobile functionality and services for its users and advertisers, this is the first time that Facebook has publicly said that it’s basically not working on its own branded phone.

This of course doesn’t mean that Facebook won’t work with handset manufacturers about pre-loading Facebook apps, but if you’re looking for a shiny blue “Facebook Phone”, it seems like Zuckerberg just crushed that nightmare dream.

Rumors have been swirling that the Menlo Park firm had hired iPhone and iPad engineers to work on the phone, but perhaps they were brought in to make its existing apps better and more responsive.

With the company stating that it’s laser focused on providing the social layer for the entire web, straying away from that goal, say with a mobile phone project, could scare off investors.