So the rumors are getting hotter now. These days it seems every company wants to go into the business of hardware. Is it a good idea? Or not? Bloomberg reports that Facebook is working closely with HTC to launch a Facebook phone by 2013.

Facebook has already built and launched a Facebook Phone with HTC: the Status. Despite "deep" Facebook integration, it was a flop. Now Bloomberg is reporting that the social network company has assembled a team of engineers from Apple and Palm and have put together a team in what the article describes as a "modified operating system" for the device.

Bloomberg doesn't state what kind of OS it might be based on but we suppose Android is a safe assumption. The report also doesn't say how extreme the modification is going to be as well. So from here on to 2013, we can only assume and speculate just how the HTC x Facebook OS will turn out to be.

The project, according to the report, was scheduled to be launched by the end of 2012, that date has apparently been pushed back to mid-2013 to "give HTC more time to work on other products". - whatever that means.

What do you think? A Facebook phone branded with HTC? Would you use it?

[Bloomberg]