Initially, only four smartphones will support Facebook Home: the HTC One, HTC One X/X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy S 4, and Samsung Galaxy Note II. Facebook stated explicitly that it is not forking Android or creating a Facebook operating system.
In addition to Facebook’s new app suite, it is also launching a new phone named the HTC First that comes with the Facebook Home experience pre-installed. The phone will come in four colors (black, white, sky blue, and red), it is priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract, and its only carrier partner will be AT&T. Pre-orders for the phone open today, and like Facebook Home, it will ship April 12.
During the Q&A following the event, Facebook stated that only Android phones running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher will support the Facebook home suite of apps. Initially, the experience will not include ads, but Zuckerberg said that advertising will eventually be present, particularly in the cover feed.
The Facebook Home experience will also have some granularity in the settings, where users can turn features like chat heads or the cover feed lock screen on and off. Facebook did not indicate any intent to bring similar functionality to either the iOS or Windows Phone platforms.
A Facebook phone has been worked over by the rumor mill since 2010, and its existence had been denied by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg until now. Screenshots and mockups of an OS and phone body design leaked Wednesday.
Facebook’s press event is currently in progress, and Ars reporters are on the ground liveblogging it minute by minute. We will update this article as more details become available.