Google recently acquired Motorola Mobility for $2.5 billion which could lead to the search engine making its own smartphone. Facebook has been quick to follow suit, it seems.

According to Silicon Valley News, the company has hired several former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad and have already made three attempts at building a smartphone. They’ve partnered with HTC on a smartphone project called ‘Buffy’ which is still in the works.

Why? Because Facebook is now a public company and needs to find new sources of revenue. It fears being left behind in mobile, which is one of the most promising areas for growth. Traditionally, software companies have found it difficult to gain success in hardware; Hewlett Packard and Dell have both tried and failed.

Zuckerburg earned $16bn from Facebook’s recent IPO so if all else fails, he could always just buy a phone making company.

Source: Silicon Valley News

Tags: Facebook, Google. Mark Zuckerburg, Silicon Valley News