Is Facebook making a mobile? The social network says 'no', the rumour mill says, 'maybe'

Savvy geek-hub TechCrunch has a rumour that Facebook, the 500 million user-strong social network, is secretly working on a mobile phone operating system, and will be working with third-party manufacturers to get it on to devices.

The site’s anonymous tipster believes that Apple and Google’s massive mobiles - the iPhone and Android - are worrying to Facebook. Apparently, the social network thinks that apps for the best blowers are aren’t enough, and plans to make a proper competitive move.

“Facebook wants to integrate deeply into the contacts list and other core functions of the phone,” says TechCrunch. “It can only do that if it controls the operating system.”

Even the Android, which has lax rules on what you can alter, doesn’t let third-party apps go that far in altering the phone's OS.

Facebook, however, has told the website that the rumour is false, and that it’s not making a phone. “The story is not accurate”, says the web’s biggest people platform, before listing an exhaustive list of mobile projects that the company is working on: HTML 5 support, better apps, Connect support, more comprehensive software development kits and collaborations with other tech creators.

TechCrunch remains adamant, saying the coy denial of the rumour is similar to the times that Google, Apple, and Microsoft all said they weren’t making mobiles, before releasing awesome mobile phones and being big fat LIARS.

Only time will tell, it seems.