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The Valley is all a-buzz with rumors surrounding Facebook’s mysterious mobile launch this Wednesday November 3 at the firm’s Palo Alto, California headquarters.
Will the social network be announcing the much-hyped-but-even-more-debunked Facebook phone? Will the big news be all about an iPad app, or other types of new mobile apps? Will developers be salivating at news of a new Facebook mobile SDK? Or will Foursquare be put into check by Facebook Places announcing special retail deals? The answer as of today, unfortunately, is that we don’t really know, and neither do any of the other media frantically conjecturing and guessticulating about it all.
Of course, there are degrees of likelihood for each option, and we’re happy to give you what we believe the odds may be for each, in case any of you dear readers are the betting type.
The mysterious invite gives almost nothing away as you can see from the image below:
The apparently rather socially inept Zuckerberg himself has debunked the notion of a Facebook phone before, but his firm did let slip his firm was focusing on “deeper integrations with some manufacturers.”
According to Bloomberg, the above cryptic sentence means Facebook is working with mobile-handset manufacturer INQ Mobile Ltd. on two smart phones that may be carried by AT&T Inc., according to three people familiar with the matter.”
Bloomberg’s source also said the INQ devices which will feature Facebook social-networking services “are due to be introduced in Europe in the first half of 2011 and the U.S. in the second half.”
So, INQ Mobile phones with a social media, failed-KIN-like-spin. Interesting, but with a potential launch in Q2 of next year, maybe an announcement on Wednesday may prove premature? We give this rumor odds of 50:1 of being part of the announcement on Wednesday.
Other reports have been circling about a “Facebook Deals” service purportedly being tested by a “limited number of partners” to “”enables businesses to provide deals whenever visitors check-in to a physical store.”
Frankly, it would be an excellent time for Facebook to unleash this feature as part of its recently launched Facebook Places feature, and would certainly trump Foursquare in the run up to the holiday retail season. Black Friday on Facebook Places, anyone? We’re going to say the odds on this are fairly high – 5:1.
Another good bet would be a brand spanking new developer SDK for app developers to develop FB mobile apps on. After all, isn’t it about time Facebook jumped on the app developing bandwagon like Apple and Google? Odds on the SDK are 2:1, but perhaps talk of a Facebook app store is a little riskier at 10:1.
So, ladies and gents, there you have our predictions. Unfortunately, as we’re just a plain old news source and not a licensed betting house (yet?!) we sadly can’t take your money, but let us know your thoughts on what Facebook might be cooking up, and we’ll bring you the news as soon as we hear it.