The Facebook phone strategy explained

You know what’s cool? A billion phones.
You know what’s cool? A billion phones.
Image: AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez
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Facebook just unveiled, as expected, new software for Android phones that puts the social network front-and-center. It will come preloaded on a new $99 HTC phone and be available right away on a few Samsung phones, as well.

At the announcement, CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that only about a third of the world is online at this point—we’ve written about his strategy for the rest of the world—and that Facebook has the opportunity to “change the relationship that we have” with mobile devices. That’s an ambitious goal, but it may be Facebook’s only hope to keep growing. Here, in a series of images, is how to understand what the company is trying to solve with today’s new product, called Facebook Home:

Facebook is growing in the developing world…

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…where most mobile growth is happening…

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…on Android…

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…but Facebook isn’t making much money there…

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…so it wants a more prominent place on those phones.

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