Facebook is everywhere. Mark Zuckerberg and his infamous social networking website have spawned countless efforts from products to ‘friend’ or ‘fan’ them, and while Facebook�s revenue stream is in question in regards to the prospects of an IPO stock offering, the ubiquity of its brand is not up for debate.
The latest buzz � outside of any Facebook IPO rumors � is that now, thanks to a new deal with General Motors, your car will be able to automatically update your profile for you. Through the magic of OnStar, your entire network of friends will know when your car has broken down.
General Motors is reportedly already in the testing phase for new OnStar features that will allow subscribers to hear text messages received on the mobile phone linked with their car or truck read aloud. They will also be able to dictate status update messages for their Facebook profiles using OnStar’s existing voice recognition technology. GM has said that while these features and a host of others created to enhance OnStar’s social media functionality are still only in the development stage, there will be no extra charge for them in addition to annual OnStar subscription fees.
Text messaging and Facebook services represent the latest efforts by General Motors to win back some of the potential GM/OnStar customers lost to Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and its growing SYNC feature. SYNC already supports text to voice for text messages for Verizon (NYSE: VZ) customers using either the LG (LSE: LGLD) Cosmos or new Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid X, a phone of particular interest to GM. Another of their new OnStar initiatives is a deal with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to increase OnStar functionality when paired with smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, like the Motorola Droid. Of course, GM will also be looking to support another smartphone rumored to be hitting the market, one that will tie in nicely to OnStar’s Facebook features.
This past weekend, the rumor of the hour is that Facebook, not satisfied with every smartphone on earth supporting apps tailor-built for the social network, would be creating their own gadget. TechCrunch reported yesterday that Facebook employees Joe Hewitt, one of the architect’s behind non-profit Mozilla Foundation’s web browser Firefox, and Matthew Parakey, one of the minds behind Google’s Chrome operating system project, were developing a devoted mobile platform for Facebook. The new machine would allow Facebook to move beyond its segregated app nature on Google Android devices and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) line of iPhones and into building core mobile phone features like contact lists, thus ensuring the social network’s ubiquity and its ability to compete in the smartphone market in anticipation of the company’s long-rumored IPO.
This morning it appears that Facebook’s OnStar integration will reach consumers well before the rumored Facebook Phone. Facebook spokeswoman Jamie Chopflin told The New York Times that, while the company is busy developing a number of different services and features for various smartphones and other mobile devices, “Facebook is not building a phone.” Her statement goes to highlight a number of new projects at Facebook, including an HTML5 version of the website, but it does not rule out the possibility of such a product in the future.
As the company comes closer and closer to offering an IPO in tandem with its increasing cultural saturation, though, don’t be surprised if it turns out that there was more truth in the initial rumor than Facebook is leading us to believe.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
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