Josh Ong
The New York Times reported Thursday that, according to people briefed on Facebook's plans, the social network's iPad app is in the "final stages of testing." The app has been in production for almost a year and should be available within weeks.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly been "heavily invested" in the process and has overseen design decisions and the app's unique features. Sources who have seen the application said it has a "slick design" specifically tailored for the iPad and its multi-touch interface. In particular, the company's developers have focused on overhauling the Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features.
iPad 2 users will also be able to shoot and upload photos and videos directly from the built-in cameras. “The photo and video experience is amazing, offering full resolution and full-screen images,†said a person who has seen the app.
Facebook declined to comment on the rumored app, though it did reiterate that it maintains "a great relationship" with Apple, as exemplified by the iPhone application, which launched alongside Apple's App Store in 2008.
According to the company, 250 million of Facebook's 700 million worldwide users access the service on a mobile device. Meanwhile, Apple has sold more than 25 million iPads since its initial release last year. Apple plans to help Facebook promote the forthcoming iPad app by "featuring it prominently" in the App Store, said a person familiar with plans for the app.
Sources also confirmed that Facebook is working on an improved iPad version of its website, but specific timing of the update remained unclear. The tipster did, however, emphasize that an upgraded website was meant to supplement the iPad and iPhone app experiences, rather than competing with them.
Rumors swirled on Wednesday that Facebook is hard at work on an HTML5 platform meant to "break the stranglehold" that Apple has on mobile app distribution. The company has reportedly lined up 80 developers on a secretive project that would help Facebook to retain control while still reaching the more than 200 million iOS devices Apple has sold.
The two companies have differed at times; for example, Apple was unable to agree to Facebook's terms for integration of Apple's Ping social music discovery service with its own social network. But, last year Apple CEO Steve Jobs was reported to have invited Zuckerberg over for dinner to discuss the issue.
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29 Comments
yet another poorly written AI "article" on a topic that has very little relevance. oooh. jobs and zuck hd dinner. ooooh.
I'm wondering what experience others have on FB on their Mac. Mine is that scrolling through their pages seems to make my macbook pro run quite warm. It obviously isn't a flash issue. Anyone else notice this?
Geez Facebook, way to be cutting edge and come out with an iPad version more than a year later.
I am not a Facebook user (and will likely never be one), Zuckerberg is the guy I would have mobbed in high-school, and all this "social" crap (not saying that being social is crap, rather that none of this shite has anything to do with "social", except for the few cases where remote family members or friends use it as an affordable means of communication, taking the risk of having private issues made public and un-ersasable) is making me even more tired than usual.
Still: I am having a bit of a hard time putting together these mixed signals. On one side we heard rumors, that Facebook is investing big in building up a HTML based alternative to the AppStore to stay free from Apple's control. On the other side, they now embrace Apple's model and finally bring out an iPad app (a topic they have avoided forever, even calling the iPad "not a mobile device" since the developer of the, well-received, iPhone app threw in the towel over disagreements with the approval process)?
What is this? Corporate incontinence? At least one of these rumors being totally off track? I simply can't figure it out.
Geez Facebook, way to be cutting edge and come out with an iPad version more than a year later.
Admittedly they did spend a lot of time working on the appropriate multi-touch gesture for "I consent to all of my personal information and the personal information of all of the contacts in my address book being instantaneously and irreversibly uploaded onto the internet".
They were going to go with flipping the bird at the screen until Zuckerburg realised nails are not sufficiently conductive to operate a capacitive display.