Social networking giant, Facebook is reportedly planning to launch its smartphone by next year, a move that will allow the company to create a whole ecosystem for its users.

Other technology giants including Apple, Google, and Microsoft are working all working to create their complete ecosystem so that users do not have to look elsewhere for any of their needs on the devices.

The company, which recently got itself listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, has reportedly hired former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad to for designing its smartphone. The sefl branded smartphone project is being pushed aggressively by the company.

The report in the New York Times cited company staff and others also said that the company will not confirm or deny its smartphone project. The company has also launched its own mobile app store. Facebook is planning to launch its own photo sharing application called, ‘Facebook Camera’ on Thursday on in Apple's App Store.

Facebook Camera, is a standalone Facebook application and is independent of Facebook app proper. The photos on the app will be shown on full-screen spanning the entire screen and it will also allow users to like and comment directly. The App Center offers links to Facebook-enabled apps within Apple's iOS and Google Android stores. The developers will also be able to write apps to be placed exclusively in Facebook's store.

Facebook said that as of late April an average of 500 million people access the social network through mobile devices every month. This means that the company has to maintain a strong presence on the platform in order to take advantage of its large user base.