I definitely think Farhad Manjoo is wrong. If Facebook were to make a phone, I'm sure they wouldn't make it ad-heavy. In fact, I think the phone itself would (or should) be close to ad-free and very inexpensive to make it very compelling to use.
After all, the more targeted and precise the data the more valuable it becomes. One they put a phone in you're hand, they could get info like:
- Who you really are (confirmed ID).
- Some of your habits (e.g., where you tend to eat).
- The people you tend to socialize with on a regular basis.
- The people you (probably) live with..
- If the phone will support a "wallet", your spending habits and probably/baseline income.
- If the agreement includes mining all communication (voice, at least, would probably be illegal), somebody is about to get married, go on vacation, thinking about lunch, etc. i.e., when they're primed for some solicitations
I *think* this is what they're shooting for. But I think Facebook will run into a couple of hurdles when they have to deal with:
1. Wireless service providers. Unless Facebook and Google collaborate and create network of their own (do they have the cash?), or unless they throw the service providers a bone.
2. Regional privacy laws (both Federal and state, for the U.S.).
Disclaimer: I also think Google flipped to creepy & evil a while ago; and also think they're priming to mine some (or all) of this information via Android.