Mobile Software
Facebook Home
Facebook tried to put itself at the center of the phone with a home-screen takeover and a dedicated handset, the HTC First. Within weeks the phone was cut from $99 to 99 cents, and Home was quietly abandoned.
- Company
- Started
- 2013
- Ended
- 2014
- HTC First on-contract price within weeks
- $99 → 99¢
- Collapse speed
- Rapid
- Preventability
- High
- Lesson transfer
- Industry-wide
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-22
Narrative
The story
The ambition
Facebook wanted to be the phone, not just an app on it. Announced in April 2013, Facebook Home was an Android layer that replaced the home screen and lock screen — greeting you with a stream of friends' photos and messages the moment you picked up the device. Paired with it was the HTC First, the closest thing to a "Facebook phone."
The rise
The pitch was bold: for the more than a billion people on Facebook, why not make the whole phone revolve around the people you care about? Home shipped as a free download and pre-installed on the HTC First, positioned as a mainstream, mass-market experience.
The cracks
Consumers did not want Facebook to take over their phone. Everything Home offered was already available in the ordinary Facebook and Messenger apps, so there was little reason for a Facebook-centric device. Worse, reviewers found Home a compromised experience — it changed how the phone worked and dropped basics like app folders — and it drew poor ratings, around 2 out of 5.
The collapse
The market verdict was swift and brutal. The HTC First flopped; within weeks AT&T cut its on-contract price from $99 to 99 cents, and it reportedly sold only about 15,000 units in its first month. Facebook quietly stopped promoting Home and let it fade, ending the phone experiment.
The aftermath
Facebook retreated to what worked — being an app, and later a family of apps, on everyone's phone rather than the phone itself. Home became a case study in mistaking reach for demand.
The lessons
Being on a billion phones is not the same as people wanting your product to *be* their phone. When a feature is already available in an app people have chosen to open, wrapping it around the entire device removes control they value and offers nothing they were missing.
Causal timeline
Failure Anatomy
- 2013-04
Facebook tries to become the phone
In April 2013 Facebook launched Home, an Android home-screen and lock-screen takeover, alongside the HTC First handset. [1]
- 2013
No reason to want it
Home's features were already in ordinary apps, so consumers had little reason for a Facebook-centric phone. [2]
No real demand - 2013
A compromised experience
Reviewers found Home changed how the phone worked and lacked basics, drawing poor ratings around 2 out of 5. [3]
Poor execution - 2013
The phone flops, Home fades
The HTC First was cut from $99 to 99 cents within weeks (~15,000 units sold in its first month) and Facebook quietly discontinued Home. [4]
No real demand
Structured analysis
What Went Wrong
Root causes
No one wanted a Facebook-centric phone. Consumers did not want Facebook to take over their device; its features were already available in ordinary apps, leaving little reason for a Facebook-centric experience. [2]
A compromised experience. Home changed how the phone worked and dropped basics like app folders, drawing poor ratings around 2 out of 5. [3]
Immediate trigger
The Facebook phone flops. The HTC First sold poorly and its price was slashed within weeks, forcing the retreat. [4]
Visible symptoms
Price cut to 99 cents in weeks. AT&T cut the HTC First from $99 to 99 cents on contract within weeks, with reportedly only ~15,000 units sold in the first month. [4]
Warning signs
Poor ratings out of the gate. Home drew low user ratings (around 2 out of 5), signaling the concept was not wanted. [3]
Affected groups
Evidence
Claims & sources
Every numbered marker in the analysis links to the claim it rests on, and each claim to its sources.
- [1]
Facebook launched Facebook Home in April 2013 — an Android home-screen and lock-screen replacement that put Facebook at the center of the phone — alongside the HTC First handset.
- [2]
Consumers did not want Facebook to take over their phone; its features were already available in ordinary apps, so there was little reason for a Facebook-centric device.
Moderate Reported explanation Facebook Home — Wikipedia What Amazon Can Learn From The Failed Facebook Phone - [3]
Reviewers found Home a compromised experience — it changed how the phone worked, dropped basics like app folders, and drew poor user ratings around 2 out of 5.
Moderate Reported explanation Facebook Home — Wikipedia What Amazon Can Learn From The Failed Facebook Phone - [4]
The HTC First flopped — AT&T cut its on-contract price from $99 to 99 cents within weeks, and it reportedly sold only about 15,000 units in its first month — and Facebook quietly discontinued Home.
Sources
Facebook Home — Wikipedia
Wikipedia
What Amazon Can Learn From The Failed Facebook Phone
Forbes · 2014-06-17