'Facebook Phone' soon to be a reality or just a good sound bite?

There have been rumors contemplating that Facebook will be launching its own phone that will further integrate social networking on the go. However, Facebook spokesperson has denied any such plans for a phone but accepted it was an idea thrown around internally in the company.  

Facebook is the big daddy of social networking that has surpassed its competitors like MySpace, Orkut, Google Buzz etc. into oblivion. When the rumors of a Facebook Phone started circulating, it was one of the most interesting read. However, it seems it will die a rumor.

A spokesperson of Facebook denied rumors of the Facebook phone but did say that, "Our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social, so integrating deeply into existing platforms and operating systems is a good way to enable this." This statement explains largely explains Facebook hiring away Google's Senior Product Manager of Android, Erick Tseng. Many claimed that with hiring of Tseng it is obvious that the Facebook Phone will run the open Android OS instead of developing its down operating system from scratch.

Facebook has categorically denied all rumors about the phone, stating it is only interested at integration with the existing mobile platforms to make the Facebook experience more robust. Like in the case of Facebook Connect for iPhone and the Android Facebook, application does need rejuvenation for functionality.

The spokesperson further added, "The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a 'Facebook Phone' (even internally) because that's such an attractive sound bite, but our real strategy is to make everything social and not build one phone or integration."