A Facebook-branded smartphone may be launched some time this year. — Picture courtesy of shutterstock.comNEW YORK, May 29 — Facebook could launch its own-branded smartphone before the end of 2012, according to an article published online on May 27 in The New York Times. 

The report suggests that the social network has called upon the services of several software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad for Apple.

The report comes just a few days after Google finalised its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, for which it paid US$12.5 billion (RM37.5 billion).

According to The New York Times, Facebook could follow in Google’s footsteps by acquiring a smartphone manufacturer if its internal efforts prove fruitless. 

Facebook, now a public company, is under greater pressure to find other sources of revenue, analysts have suggested, and the smartphone project could offer a new stream.

This isn’t the first time the social network has been associated with a mobile phone hardware project. When contacted by the newspaper, Mark Zuckerberg’s company neither confirmed nor denied the rumour. — AFP-Relaxnews