Bloomberg reports that Facebook has decided not to unveil its latest smart devices at the company’s F8 developer conference, scheduled for May. The social network has apparently decided consumers won’t be comfortable with them listening in on their home life in the wake of the current data-privacy scandal.
The company’s new hardware products, connected speakers with digital-assistant and video-chat capabilities, are undergoing a deeper review to ensure that they make the right trade-offs regarding user data, the people said. While the hardware wasn’t expected to be available until the fall, the company had hoped to preview the devices at the largest annual gathering of Facebook developers, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing internal plans.
The new devices are part of Facebook’s plan to become even more integrated into their users’ everyday lives, which many users may not be comfortable with due to the current Facebook scandal which has brought the social network’s user data sharing policies under tight scrutiny. Political advertising firm Cambridge Analytica gathered information on 50 million social network users without seeking permission.
The new hardware wasn’t due to be available until this fall, but Facebook intended to unveil the new devices to developers at the company’s F8 developer conference in May. At the conference, the company is also expected to announce new, more restrictive rules around what kinds of users information app developers will be allowed to collect via the Facebook service.
