Recent rumors suggest that Facebook may make a bid to buy BlackBerry.
The world's biggest social networking website was in the news previously for plans to build its own smartphone. With the decline of the Canadian smartphone maker, BlackBerry, Facebook may well be tempted to chase its vision and enter the highly competitive smartphone arena.
A Wall Street Journal report suggests that executives from both the companies met recently, but it remains unclear if it's related to Facebook buying the struggling smartphone maker.
BlackBerry holds a vast amount of experience in the email and messaging space and had recently released its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for iPhone and Android devices.
The demand for mobile devices with Internet accessibility, such as smartphones and tablets, has grown a lot in the recent years. Unable to keep pace with the market trend, BlackBerry (previously Research In Motion) lost a major chunk of its business to competitors such as Apple, Samsung, Nokia and more. The company's efforts to regain its lost market share with the launch of the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 also failed as the smartphone did not attract as many customers as the company had hoped for.
The increase in use of mobile Internet has also resulted in a big shift from desktop usage to mobile device usage.
"To put its transition in perspective, Facebook said it had 819 million monthly mobile users (73%) out of its total 1.15 billion users in Q2 2013, up from 543 million (56%) of 955 million in Q2 2012, 325 million (43%) of 739 million in Q2 2011, and 155 million (32%) of 482 million in Q2 2010. Note these people used Facebook mobile at least once, but may also have used desktop. Facebook doesn't share what total percentage of usage comes from mobile, but 41% of its ad revenue comes from phones and tablets, up from 30% in Q1 2013, 23% in Q4 2012, and 14% in Q3 2012," reports TechCrunch.
As a major chunk of Facebook users access the service via mobile device, it should not come as a surprise if the company soon launches a line of Facebook smartphones in the near term and partners with BlackBerry, just as Google has partnered with Samsung LG and HTC to launch its Nexus range of smartphones and tablets.
