Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had their fair share of smartphones which received lukewarm welcome by consumers, Shane Brennan said in a report on CNBC.
The report comes as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) released is very own smartphone, the Fire Phone which marked its entry into the crowded and very competitive smartphone market.
At the start of the report, Brennan highlighted a comment made by T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) CEO John Legere asking why Amazon has now entered the smartphone market. In a tweet, the notorious CEO said: “Let’s hope Amazon doesn’t fall victim to the AT&T curse that is the Facebook phone #onemonth”
That Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Legere mentioned is the HTC First, a smartphone that came preloaded with the social networking site’s software. According to Brennan, the First let users have easy access to Facebook information that concerns them.
Though the HTC First can be said as the first full-fledged attempt by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at a smartphone, it was not the first HTC phone to include a feature directly tied to the social networking giant. HTC launched the HTC Chacha / HTC Status in 2011 which featured a dedicated Facebook button.
Meanwhile, Brennan also discussed the Nexus line of smartphones, particularly the Nexus 5, which Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) made. In the discussion, it was said that the internet giant is a phone manufacturer. However, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) just recently sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for nearly $3 billion after it paid $12.5 billion in 2012 for the device manufacturer.
Brennan also pointed out that ESPN once released a phone called the MVP. Before its runaway success with the iPhone, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also had the now-forgotten iTunes Phone.
Watch the video below:
Shareholders in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) includes D E Shaw with about 9.03 million shares in the company by the end of March. Another shareholder is Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global which reported about 8.82 million shares in the social media company by the end of the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shareholders includes Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management which had 797,297 shares in the company as of the end of March. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management also reported 653,831 shares in the internet giant during the same period.
Disclosure: None
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