Rumors had suggested that Facebook would be getting into the smart speaker came as soon as May, but now it sounds like the debut of the device has been pushed back.
Facebook has decided to delay the announcement of its connected speaker due to the recent data privacy scandals surrounding the company, say sources speaking to Bloomberg. Facebook plans to further review its speaker, which is a connected device with a digital assistant and video chat, and make sure that it's making the correct trade-offs when it comes to privacy and user data.
The speakers will still launch this fall, according to the report.
It's said that Facebook has already focus tested its smart speakers and found that users had concerns about letting a Facebook device in their living rooms. Those concerns would likely be increased now, following the controversies surrounding Facebook and Cambridge Analytica and the social network's collection of user calls and texts through its Android app. It remains to be seen what Facebook will do to assuage concerns like these when it does eventually launch its connected speakers, but it's clear that Facebook has some work to do.
