After announcing Facebook Home, a launcher for Android devices that “puts people ahead of apps,” Facebook has revealed the Facebook Home Program, which helps OEMs and carriers ship phones with Facebook’s Home launcher preinstalled.
During the event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg shared that the following companies have already signed up to ship phones with Home preinstalled: HTC, Orange, Samsung, Sony, Huawei, Qualcomm, EE, ZTE, Lenovo and Alcatel One Touch.
Zuckerburg highlighted two companies in particular, AT&T and HTC, who he says “have worked together to build the first set of phones that come with Facebook Home on them.”
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The first phones to get Facebook Home include the HTC One and One X, Samsung’s Galaxy SII and S4, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Note II.
When discussing the new launcher, Zuckerburg detailed that Facebook’s new product will “turn your Android phone into a social phone.” He went on, saying that Facebook users “spend three times as much” in Facebook than other apps — quite the claim to make.
We’re not building a phone; and we’re not building an operating system, but we are building something that’s a whole lot deeper than an app.
Facebook announced its event last week, inviting press to see its ‘new home on Android.” This, of course, re-ignited buzz of the long-rumored Facebook phone.
Reports from 9to5Google, TechCrunch and The New York Times surfaced shortly thereafter, with rumors varying from an upcoming fork of Android to a more simplistic, Facebook launcher. For more on the newly announced Facebook Home, head here.
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