Vodacom releases 'Facebook phone'

Vodacom has announced the release of the Vodafone 555 Blue phone, with built-in Facebook functionality, in SA.

The feature phone was conceptualised by Vodafone, Vodacom's parent company, in collaboration with Facebook and was manufactured exclusively for Vodafone by its partner TL.

The handset has a QWERTY keypad, 2.4” landscape display screen, finger touch navigation key and a dedicated Facebook button.

The handset has recently been released by Vodafone in the UK and was “specifically designed to put the Facebook experience into the heart of the handset”.

The device became available in participating Vodacom outlets yesterday, and retails at R749 on prepaid, and R99 per month on a Top Up 99 Vodacom 4 Less contract. Both prepaid and contract packages include 30MB of free data, which Vodacom says should allow for a month of Facebooking.

Managing executive of marketing for Vodacom Enzo Scarcella says: “Social networking using mobile phones is becoming increasingly important among customers who want to stay connected regardless of the time or place and this global trend is relevant to SA too.

“There are currently over 4.1 million Facebook users in SA. The Vodafone 555 Blue will provide more South Africans in the emerging market with an affordable way to access the world's largest social networking site.”

data customers to 10.9 million between April and June - a 43.3% increase compared to the same period last year.

Client partner for Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa for Facebook Jonathan Labin says: “Facebook wants to make every phone social and Vodafone has taken the integration of Facebook to the next stage for an affordable mobile device with the Vodafone 555 Blue.”

“We're really happy that Vodafone will distribute this phone globally and we hope to do much more with them to bring the mobile, social Internet to people everywhere,” says Labin.

Some of the features of the phone include integrated messaging, where Facebook messages appear in the handset's inbox alongside texts and e-mails, easy photo-sharing, synchronisation of friend's Facebook profiles to the Vodafone 555 Blue's address book.

The handset features a customisable “F” button, which can be assigned tasks such as posting a status update with photos from the phone's gallery or with links from the browser. The Vodafone 555 Blue also includes the Opera Mini Web browser.

While Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has clearly stated that there will not be an official “Facebook phone” from the social network itself, from early this year he has hinted that there will be no single such device.

"A lot's been made about a single Facebook phone," he said in a recorded video message played at the launch of the HTC ChaCha and Salsa, in February.

"But this year you can expect to see dozens of phones with much deeper social integration than anything we've seen so far."

HTC's ChaCha and Salsa handsets were the first to introduce the dedicated Facebook button - integrating the social networking into both the hardware and software of the devices.

Facebook has, however, also recently released the “Facebook for every phone” application, which provides Facebook functionality to over 2 500 handsets with the view of making the service more easily available in developing countries on low-end devices.