Facebook Says New Mobile Products Coming, but No Facebook Phone

Credit: Facebook

While Facebook’s earnings call was full of revenue generating strategies, including an increase in sponsored stories, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed the company’s upcoming mobile products and integration.

“We will develop new products, particularly in mobile,” Sandberg said as she was listing other product and revenue plans.

Facebook’s earnings barely matched analysts’ expectations today, and its stock dropped to an all-time low of $25.50 per share in after-hours trading.

Zuckerberg jumped in later to discuss mobile app products. “We want to support an ecosystem where other apps can build on top of Facebook,” he said. Zuckerberg pointed to the forthcoming Facebook integration coming to Apple’s iOS 6 for the iPhone and iPad.

Zuckerberg also shot down rumors about a Facebook smartphone.  ”There are a lot of things you can build in other operating systems as well that aren’t really taking, that aren’t really like building out a whole phone, which wouldn’t make much sense for us to do,” he said.

Rumors of a dedicated Facebook phone based on Android have sprung up over the last couple of months. The New York Times, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch have all reported on the phone, which is has been expected to come out next year. Bloomberg reported this week that Facebook is working with HTC on the phone.

Facebook has been criticized on Wall Street for not having a strong enough revenue-generating mobile strategy.  It has recently launched a dedicated Facebook camera app and acquired mobile app companies, including Instagram and Glancee. The Instagram deal has not yet closed, Zuckerberg said on the call.