Facebook has announced that the release of HTC First, also known as the “Facebook Phone,” in the United Kingdom and France has been delayed indefinitely. The social media giant says improvement in its smartphone’s software are needed before entering another market.
The HTC First comes with Facebook Home, the Facebook-centric interface for Android smartphones. The smartphone was launched last April in the United States, exclusively through AT&T, but has had difficulty gaining buyers. Its price has been drastically, desperately dropped from $99 to $0.99 and rumors have surfaced that the device may be pulled out entirely.
The case is just the same with Facebook Home, which was initially available for download to a handful of Android devices. Not a lot of users have tried out the software and those who have downloaded Facebook Home have given the software poor ratings. Users complain that Facebook Home has stripped away many of the customization options they usually get with any other Android devices.
Because of that, Facebook has said it will postpone the European release of HTC First so they could concentrate on improving Facebook Home first.
“We’re focusing the next few months on adding customization features that address the feedback we received,” a Facebook spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times. “While we focus on making Home better, we are going to limit supporting new devices and think it makes a lot of sense for EE and Orange to hold off deploying the HTC First in Europe.”
Story: Los Angeles Times
