  The LEPS and CLAS data of the incoherent photoproduction of $\phi$ meson from
deuteron at low energies are studied with a model for $\phi$ meson
photoproduction from nucleon consisting of Pomeron, $\pi$, and $\eta$ meson
exchanges in the t-channel, and a postulated resonance, with parameters fitted
to recent LEPS data on $\phi$ production from proton near threshold. The
resonance was introduced to explain an observed bump in the forward
differential cross section. Within impulse approximation, we find that the
Fermi motion, final state interaction, and the resonance excitation all give
important contributions to improve the agreement with data. However,
discrepancies remain. Contributions from $\phi$ production via spectator
nucleon by other mesons like $\pi, \rho,$ and $\phi$ produced from the first
nucleon need to be calculated in order to gain insight on the medium effects as
well as the existence of the postulated nucleon resonance.
