Creating electronic kit is expensive, tricky and risky. However, if Facebook focussed its software brains on an Android operating system spin of its own, and made that build available for download to selected handsets, then it could stand atop Google’s hard work while undermining the Chocolate Factory’s revenue stream, all without spending the money it costs to develop its own hardware.
Such a move isn’t unprecedented: Google’s Chinese equivalent, Baidu, offers a custom spin of Android which takes a Google Nexus S handset and replaces all of Google’s services with its own.
The popular Cyanogen spin of Android is one of a handful put together by hobbyists and available for more than fifty different Android handsets. Bereft of branded services it demonstrates that the Linux-based OS is open enough for anyone to take advantage of.