With the Facebook “Phone” project due to be announced in a few hours, it’s worth remembering Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly said building a phone is “so clearly the wrong strategy for us.” At TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF conference last September, Michael Arrington grilled Zuckerberg about the long rumored move by Facebook into hardware.
Arrington said “I have been bugging you about a Facebook phone for years. You dragged me into the office to say it’s not happening Mike.” Zuck replied “Do you believe me yet?”
Mike replied “No…. Of course I believe you, except that I don’t,” but then Mike speculated there was a secret group inside of Facebook building hardware phones.
Zuck then gave his strong argument as to why this was “always the wrong strategy” for Facebook. He says this phone he is NOT building “could get 10 million people to use it, 20 million, it doesn’t move the needle for us.”
Watch the entire 3 minute discussion in the video clip above to hear Mark explain why they won’t be building a Facebook phone. Then check back later after the event to see if Zuckerberg’s stated strategy has changed or not.