Facebook Looking to Expand Footprint on Smartphones

Wants to be at the center of smartphone operation

The company's 'new home on Android' will put "Facebook first", sourcestold the Wall Street Journal. It is widely expected to centre around a new Facebook homescreen that will turn the social network's Android app into a core smartphone component.

Software leaked to Android Police appears to show that while HTC is expected to unveil a mid-range 'Facebook phone' on Thursday night in California, the new features will also be available to Samsung phones as well as to those running standard Android. With Samsung increasingly dominant among Android manufacturers, such an approach would give Facebook access to a far greater market than if it simply limited its new services to a single device.