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Facebook phone experiment over as AT&T clears stock and nobody else steps forward

The final nail in the coffin of the Facebook phone seems to have been hammered into place as AT&T has sold the last of it’s HTC First handsets and has no plans to purchase any more, reports CNET.

AT&T had earlier denied that any plans had been made to discontinue the handset, but there had seemed little doubt about the handset’s future after the carrier dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents. Even Facebook itself went as far as telling users that the  front-end could be switched off …

Though Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously stated that a partnership with Apple would be required to bring the Facebook Home front-end to iOS devices, Tim Cook noted that no plans were in the works to bring Facebook’s design to Apple devices. It now seems even more unlikely that such a partnership will ever materialize. Instead, Facebook has seen fit to bring portions of the Facebook Home skin to their iPhone app.

With sources describing the HTC First as “disastrous” for the company, the app receiving poor reviews, and Samsung having reputedly turned down Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s suggestion that perhaps they’d like to make one, that would appear to be the end of the road for the Facebook phone concept.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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