Facebook Made a Phone only for Right-Handed Users in 2013
Mar. 1, 2020In a recent interview, Steven Levy, the author of the book “Facebook: The Inside Story”, shared some interesting tidbits about the social media giant. In the interview, he said thatFacebook made a prototype smartphone that was only ideal for right-handed users.
The prototype phone was codenamed “GFK”, after the Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah. It was designed by the famous Swiss designer, Yves Behar and according to the author, it had“an unusual groove in the curved surface, where one could scroll using a thumb.”Now this unusual groove, that was used to scroll and even unlock the phone, was placed on the right side of the phone making the GFK essentially a right-handed smartphone.The placement of the “groove” made the phone extremely difficult for left-handed peopleto use. However, Facebook went ahead with the design anyway.
The author said that an anonymous employee of the company told him that,“We decided we didn’t care about left-handed people,”.
Intel worked with Facebook to develop the processor of the GFK. The chipmaker also developed a technology that wouldspecifically work with the “unusual groove”of the smartphone.
The Facebook GFK did not make it to the consumer market, however. The company kept the phone a secret, even from its own employees. When employees asked about the phone, Facebook denied its existence. Ezra Callahan, one of the early 20 employees of the company said, “It was the first time I recall Facebook lying internally”.
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