Facebook hiring Apple engineers to work on smartphones - report ..........

Adding to the recent rumours of a Facebook phone, The New York Times is reporting that the social giant, which recently went public, is expanding its efforts to create a smartphone. This is not the first time that we are hearing such rumours. Both TechCrunch and AllThingsD have reported in the past that Facebook is building a smartphone, even if the company was working, the handset never made it to the market.

Fresh from its IPO, Facebook is reportedly exploring more opportunities to earn revenue and making smartphones is one of these. According to NY Times sources, most of whom include Facebook employees and several engineers sought by Facebook recruiters, the social giant has hired more than half a dozen Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad.

These engineers have joined the company's already existing mobile team, which is working on a smartphone, code named Buffy. The device which is based on a modified version of Android, was first revealed by tech blog AllThingsD last year.

With mobile being the biggest growth area right now, Facebook seeks to extend its mobile presence going beyond apps. "Mark is worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms," a Facebook employee told NY Times.

Facebook Offers......

Offers are a way to receive discounts from businesses, brands and organizations. They're available in limited beta to specific countries at this time and we'll launch globally soon.

Facebook tests 'pay to promote post' tool :-

 Facebook has started testing a system that lets users pay to highlight or promote posts.

By paying a small fee users can ensure that information they post on the social network is more visible to friends, family and colleagues.

The tests are being carried out among the social network's users in New Zealand.

Facebook said the goal was to see if users were interested in paying to flag up their information.

Money maker

The tests of the "pay to promote" system were discovered by a Facebook user in Whangarei, reported New Zealand's news magazine Stuff.

At first, said Stuff, the user thought the offer to pay to promote a post was a con trick.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to the BBC the offer was genuine.

"We're constantly testing new features across the site," said the spokesperson. "This particular test is simply to gauge people's interest in this method of sharing with their friends."

Different methods of highlighting posts were being tested, said the spokesperson. These would see a range of charges being levied to make posts more visible. Comments on the tests suggest the highest price being charged was £1.25 ($2) while others cost 25p or 50p.

Payments could be made via credit card or PayPal.

The spokesperson said some of the methods it was trying out would incur a charge but others would highlight a post for free. The spokesperson would not be drawn on when the test would end or if it would be tried in other territories.

"We're going to see a lot more ideas like this where they are testing out different ways to try to make money," said Ian Maude, internet analyst at Enders Analysis.

Both Facebook's imminent stock market flotation and a recent slowdown in revenue growth were helping to concentrate its attention on ways to make money, he said.

"In the last few years their overall revenue has grown much more quickly than their audience," he said. However, he said, that rapid growth had slowed in the last six months and had perhaps prompted it to experiment.

The flotation will add more pressure, said Mr Maude but he added that the way the stock would be split could lighten that burden a little as Mark Zuckerberg would be left 57% of the shares.

Facebook announces App Center :-

Facebook put an important marker down today by announcing that it intends to offer what it calls an "App Center" in coming weeks.

"For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga," Facebook's Aaron Brady said in a blog post. "Everything has an app detail page, which helps people see what makes an app unique and lets them install it before going to an app."

Today's announcement was what Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich described as a call to developers to submit images and copy so that their Facebook can consider featuring their apps. She said Facebook's App Center is designed to push the best social apps through a personalized discovery page.

If you're a person who likes word games--something Facebook would know from your Facebook behavior--the App Center will surface those sorts of apps for you. Then, when you select an app you like, you'll be sent to the Apple's App Store or Google's, depending on your device. "We're certainly not looking at it any competitive way" with Google or Apple, said Lucich.