Facebook has developed a low-energy Bluetooth module for a mystery hardware device (FB)

pulse

August 1, 2017 9:20 PM

Documents quietly filed under the name of a Facebook subsidiary company hint at a hardware effort.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing into hardware.

• Facebook filed documents with FCC for a Bluetooth LE module

• The documents were filed under FCL Inc, the name of the subsidiary that Facebook uses for drone-related technologies, such as its Aquila drone

• Filing comes as Facebook reportedly developing smart speaker, other hardware

Facebook has designed a low-energy Bluetooth module to be used in a still-unspecified hardware device.

The Bluetooth transmitter is attached to a printer circuit board, which Facebook says can only be installed by an original equipment manufacturer, according to FCC filings.

In other words, it's a component that will be integrated into some sort of device, which Facebook is keeping under wraps for now (much of the info in the filings is still confidential).

The filings, which were filed in June, come as evidence mounts suggesting Facebook is working on new consumer hardware. On Tuesday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Facebook's Building 8 group was developing a video chat device and a smart speaker, similar to Amazon's Echo. Business Insider previously reported that Facebook

There are a few clues in the filing that point to some kind of drone or telecommunications-related product. The filing is under FCL Inc, which is the name of the subsidiary that Facebook uses for drone-related technologies, such as its Aquila drone. And the contact name on some of the documents is Andrew Guhr, a Facebook lawyer whose LinkedIn bio describes him as Associate General Counsel, Telecommunications at Facebook.

Guhr's job description raises some intriguing possibilities for the mystery product:

The FCC filing refers to it as a Bluetooth LE 4.0 module. Bluetooth LE is the "low-energy" version of the wireless standard, designed for everything from fitness wearables to home entertainment devices and beacons.

Facebook has several projects underway that this could apply to: