Could we see Facebook’s own smartphone released by next year? According to a recent report from The New York Times the social network giant has actually hired some former Apple employees (whom are hardware engineers as well as software) who worked on the iPad, and are very serious about launching their own device.

Last year, All Things Digital reported Facebook was working on a smartphone, codenamed Buffy. The HTC device is said to offer deep Facebook integration, and will be their third attempt in creating their own smartphone. With the recent Facebook App Center, it’s looking like they are making a move similar to Amazon and tailoring Android to fit their needs.

With over 900+ million users accessing their site on the daily, this is definitely a smart move for Facebook to dedicate a smartphone to their service – especially now that they are a publicly trade company. Could you see yourself rocking the Facebook phone? I’ll be honest, while I use Facebook occasionally something like this doesn’t interest me all that much. I guess I don’t use Facebook enough to particularly want the social network to be such a huge part of my device.

What are your thoughts on a Facebook integrated Android device? And how about the apps, could you see yourself purchasing apps from Facebook on a regular basis? It will be a little over 6 months until it’s rumored release, and as we hear more we’ll keep you up to date.