SAN FRANCISCO— Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook Inc.'s future is on mobile phones—but not on ones made by the social network.
In his first public appearance since Facebook's botched public offering in May, the CEO on Tuesday zoomed through a litany of the company's mobile efforts while admitting that the company's previous mobile strategy was wrong.
Mr. Zuckerberg also dismissed the idea that Facebook—like rival Google Inc. and others—should offer its own smartphones. In the half-hour onstage interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, he said a mobile phone is "so clearly the wrong strategy for us" in response to repeated questions from TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.
Facebook investors, who have sent the company's shares down nearly 50% since the IPO, were likely paying attention to see whether Mr. Zuckerberg could restore their faith after strategic missteps and a bungled IPO.
In after-hours trading following his remarks, Facebook's stock was up 3.4%, after gaining 3.3% to $19.43 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Mr. Zuckerberg, appearing in a gray T-shirt without his trademark hoodie, often rushed through his answers but was frank about the company's mistakes, especially in mobile where it has labored to monetize advertising.
Mr. Zuckerberg said his company focused too much on a technology called HTML5, which is designed to allow apps to work across multiple kinds of hardware. That technology didn't allow Facebook's apps to be as sophisticated as those designed specifically for devices like Apple Inc.'s AAPL -0.32% iPhone, he said.
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