Facebook Phone? “Wrong Strategy” Says Zuckerberg

Rumors have come and gone and come again that Facebook will develop it own phone. But that idea makes no sense for the company, says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In an interview today at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Zuckerberg told Mike Arrington that it makes more sense for Facebook to work with others than try to build its own device.

“It’s always been the wrong strategy for us,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s so clearly the wrong strategy for us”

Assuming Facebook did build one — and Zuckerberg quickly stressed that it wasn’t –assume maybe it attracts 20 million people. That might seem like a lot, but compared to all the users Facebook already has, “it doesn’t move the needle for us.”

Rather, Zuckerberg says it makes sense to dive deep into the work others are doing with mobile, from apps to devices.

“We want to build a system that is as deeply as possible integrated into every device people want to use,” he said. Things like the new Facebook iOS app will allow Facebook to be integrated more deeply into Apple devices and apps for that platform, while Facebook itself can do more to help deep Android integration.

Is mobile a big priority for Facebook? You could say that Zuckerberg said it’s his life.

“I basically live on my mobile device,” Zuckerberg said, in response to Arrington’s question. “You know the founder’s letter on the S1? I wrote that on my phone.”

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.