News
Facebook Aims To Take A Bite Out Of Apple’s iPhone
Facebook aims to take a bite out of Apple’s iPhone
In 2017, Andrew Bosworth found himself in a new job. After over a decade at Facebook and stints in charge of key areas such as the news feed and advertising, the company veteran was shuttled off to manage the company’s nascent hardware business.
Bosworth – known internally as “Boz” – had become one of Facebook’s most outspoken defenders as it found itself increasingly on the back foot. A year earlier he had written a controversial internal memo titled “The Ugly” appearing to argue that Facebook should pursue growth at all costs, even when it is used to carry out a terrorist attack. He had challenged critics of the company head-on in unscripted Twitter exchanges.
So putting Bosworth in charge of what was at the time a relatively small venture – Facebook’s sole gadget was its Oculus virtual reality headset, sales of which were meagre – might have been seen as a reshuffle to get ahead of a rapidly escalating PR crisis.
The company’s problems tackling fake news, mental health issues and violence were becoming more apparent, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal was around the corner. Facebook wanted political operatives like Sir Nick Clegg to tell its story, not engineers. But four years later, Bosworth – who has said that his explosive memo was merely to encourage debate – is at the forefront of the social networking giant’s efforts to reinvent himself.
Andrew Bosworth argued in a 2016 memo that using Facebook to connect more people was the right thing to do even if “someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools”. CREDIT: GLENN CHAPMAN/AFP via Getty Images
Today, Facebook sells millions of Oculus virtual reality headsets and Portal video calling screens, with sales boosted by the pandemic. It is developing augmented reality goggles that project holographic images into the wearer’s field of vision, and wristbands that read nerve signals from the brain. This month it unveiled sunglasses that record video.
Last week, Bosworth was promoted to Facebook’s chief technology officer. The move was seen as a signal that the company is now done making amends for its mistakes, and is focusing on its next act: replacing the iPhone.
“We’re running into the limits of what these devices are,” Bosworth tells The Telegraph, brandishing his mobile phone. “In the last decade, if you want to connect people in new and exciting ways, the phone was the way to do it. [Today] the phone that you have in your pocket is similar to the one you had three or four years ago. There isn’t a new way that you’re connecting with people.”
Bosworth’s point is reinforced by the timing of the conversation: a few hours after Apple has unveiled a new line of iPhones filled with marginal upgrades.
Facebook Reality Labs – the official name of the company’s efforts in hardware and virtual reality – are dwarfed in revenue terms by the company’s giant advertising division. But it employs around 10,000 people, a fifth of its workforce, and is increasingly the subject of Zuckerberg’s attention.
It is easy to see why. Facebook has faced a seemingly never ending string of scandals, most recently a leak showing the company knew about the harmful effects on young users (Bosworth declined to comment on the reports, insisting it was not his area of expertise). But it is a rising force in hardware.
Its Portal video calling device was widely mocked when released in 2018, but sold out at the start of the pandemic. Sales of VR headsets tripled early this year, with Facebook’s Oculus taking three quarters of the market.
“We’re past the inflection point of VR,” Bosworth insists. “People who have critiques probably haven’t spent much time in the modern ecosystem.”
The 39-year-old says phones, like computers before them, will continue to be widely used, but that their limitations are being exposed.
“The phone will continue to be a tremendously useful device. But because it’s a general purpose device, it can’t do some things better without being worse than other things.
“In VR, in augmented reality, we’re talking about the idea that you can have people that you’re co-present with, who are not physically with you, but you’re all having a shared experience. Those things aren’t possible with a phone.”
Not surprisingly, usurping the iPhone would not be popular among Facebook’s Silicon Valley neighbour. Apple and Facebook have become mortal enemies in recent years. Tim Cook has used Facebook’s privacy scandals as a way to reinforce his company’s credentials, and introduced software updates that have hit the social network’s advertising revenues. Zuckerberg said this year the company was now its biggest competitor.
But Facebook’s push into hardware is not merely an effort to hit the iPhone maker where it hurts. Zuckerberg sees it as crucial to owning the “metaverse”, a term that has become increasingly fashionable among the Silicon Valley cognoscenti to refer to virtual worlds.
Bosworth is one of Zuckerberg’s key lieutenants in delivering that mission. Two years ahead of the Facebook founder when both were at Harvard, he helped teach an artificial intelligence class that Zuckerberg attended. He joined in 2006, two years after Facebook was founded.
But why should Facebook be entrusted with creating the next big thing after the smartphone? Many regulators consider it to be too powerful as it is, and it suffers from a trust deficit in some quarters.
“We are relatively unique among the tech set, in that our focus is connecting people,” Bosworth says. “We’re one of the most popular products in the history of the world. I don’t think it’s entirely surprising that we’re eager to find more and better ways to help those billions of people connect.”
To that end, Bosworth is committed to the company’s devices being mass market, in contrast to Apple’s efforts to target the most lucrative consumers. “Every time you increase price, you decrease reach, and it becomes inaccessible to people,” he says.
Facebook will want to see an eventual return somewhere, however. Bosworth was the architect of the company’s emergency mission to make money from mobile adverts after its stumbling stock market debut in 2012. He cancelled a six-month sabbatical to help bring investors back on side.
Does that mean a dystopic metaverse stuffed with unskippable commercials beamed into users’ eyeballs? Bosworth bristles at the suggestion.
“No one’s proposed that, and I’m a little annoyed you would suggest that anyone had,” he counters. “Facebook’s business advertising is something I’m very proud of. The ads on Facebook are tremendously high quality … certainly relative to ads I get any place else on the internet.”
Andrew Bosworth, often known as “Boz”, speak at a trade show in Hamburg, Germany in 2017
Andrew Bosworth, often known as “Boz”, speak at a trade show in Hamburg, Germany in 2017 CREDIT: Christian Charisius/dpa/Alamy Live News
Advertising, it seems, will be at least one way to monetise the metaverse. “It certainly plays a role. I don’t know what role it’s going to play. It’s way too early to say that.”
Facebook’s journey to displace the iPhone faces perhaps its sternest test yet with the recent release of its camera-equipped £300 sunglasses. As well as a potential stepping stone to more advanced shades, its purpose, at least partly, is to move the Overton window; to make hi-tech glasses a little closer to acceptable attire. “I don’t know of a better way to learn about what society wants than to give it a product and have [people] use it or not use it,” Bosworth says.
The device did not get off to a perfect start, when reviewers observed its dim warning light meant subjects were often unaware they were being filmed. Bosworth says the company welcomes the feedback, adding: “We feel good about our answers. That’s where the scrutiny should be.”
The critics, however, much like the next smartphone-sized revolution, are not yet under Facebook’s control.
News
Lagos sales manager remanded, accused of stealing N32.2m from boss

A 25-year-old sales manager, Olatunbosun Olarewaju, has been remanded in Ikoyi Prison after being accused of masterminding a shocking N32.2 million theft from his employer, just months after securing the job.
The police at Adeniji Adele Division, Lagos Island, said Olarewaju allegedly abused the trust of his boss, Mr Victor Ibe, by selling goods worth N32.2 million and diverting the proceeds into multiple personal accounts before disappearing.
According to police investigators, the lid was blown off the alleged scheme when Ibe conducted an audit and discovered a massive shortfall in stock value.
Acting swiftly, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, launched an intelligence-driven manhunt that led to Olarewaju’s arrest at a hideout in Lagos.
Following the investigation led by Sergeant Abraham Friday, Olarewaju was arraigned before the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos Island, on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.
Prosecuting counsel, Inspector Ishola Samuel, told the court that the offences took place between August 2024 and April 14, 2025, at 23 Princess Street, Lagos Island.
He said Olarewaju, entrusted with managing and selling his employer’s goods, instead chose to divert millions of naira into his private coffers.
The offences, Samuel said, contravened Sections 411 and 287(7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Olarewaju, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Presiding Magistrate A.A. Paul granted him bail in the sum of N1 million, with two sureties in like sum, but ordered his remand at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre until he meets the conditions.
The case has been adjourned until May 27, 2025, for further mention.
News
Military kills over 100 terrorists, rescue 21 hostages — DHQ

The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, has announced major successes in its ongoing counter-terrorism and anti-oil theft operations across Nigeria, with over 100 terrorists killed, 100 suspects arrested, and 21 kidnapped victims rescued between April 17 and 25, 2025.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye, disclosed the achievements in a statement on Friday.
Kangye noted that coordinated offensives across the North East, North West, North Central, South South, and South East regions yielded substantial results.
“In the North East, troops of Operation Hadin Kai launched aggressive offensives leading to the surrender of ISWAP/JAS elements and the elimination of dozens of terrorists,” Kangye said.
In the North West, troops under Operation Fagge Yamma neutralized several insurgents, arrested suspects, and rescued victims in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Katsina States.
In the North Central zone, Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke also recorded significant success. Between April 18–22, troops acting on credible intelligence arrested over 37 criminal suspects in Plateau and Kaduna States.
In the South East, troops under Operation Udoka carried out successful raids in Imo, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi States, killing terrorists, arresting suspects, and recovering arms and explosives. Notably, four kidnapped victims were rescued during these missions.
In the South South, troops of Operation Delta Safe targeted illegal refining sites and oil theft networks, destroying equipment and seizing crude oil and petroleum products worth over ₦94 million.
“Between April 18 and 22, troops made contact with terrorists in several communities, seizing weapons, mobile phones, motorcycles, and IEDs,” Kangye added
News
Pope Francis Laid To Rest In Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica

Pope Francis was buried inside his favourite Rome church after a funeral mass in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said on Saturday.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was laid to rest during a 30-minute ceremony which started at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in the Italian capital.
Footage shared by the Holy See showed cardinals marking his wooden and zinc coffin with red wax seals.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, sprinkled it with holy water after it was lowered into a tomb set inside an alcove.
A reproduction of the pectoral cross worn by Francis during his lifetime hung above it.
Francis had asked that the tomb, located near the altar of Saint Francis, be simple and unadorned, reflecting the humble spirit of his papacy.
The tombstone bears only the inscription “Franciscus” — the pope’s name in Latin.
Its marble is sourced from Liguria, the northwestern Italian region once home to the Argentine pontiff’s Italian ancestors.
Francis, born Jorge Bergoglio, had specified in his will the exact spot he wanted to be buried, in the side nave of the beloved fifth-century AD church.
The pontiff was devoted to the worship of the Virgin Mary and made a point of praying in Santa Maria Maggiore before leaving on trips abroad and upon his return to Rome.
He declared his desire to be entombed there in 2023.
Located in the heart of Rome, the basilica already holds the tombs of seven popes.
But the last one to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669. More recently, popes have usually been buried in St Peter’s Basilica.
One of four papal basilicas in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore also holds the remains of several other renowned figures, such as the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who designed St Peter’s Square and its surrounding columns.
Built around 432 AD under Pope Sixtus III, the basilica holds some of the Catholic Church’s most important relics, including an icon of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, attributed to Saint Luke.
(Channels/AFP)
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