Coming on the heels of Facebook's debut of the Google Android-based "Home" app launcher earlier in April, the company is now said to be in talks with Apple to possibly collaborate on such an initiative for the iPhone.
HTC First running the Facebook Home launcher.
A source with knowledge of the situation has told The Next Web that Facebook is not in talks with either Apple or Microsoft and has no current plans to port Home to either iOS or Windows Phone at this time.
Facebook director of product Adam Mosseri revealed to Bloomberg on Monday that talks were underway with both Apple and Microsoft, saying the social network titan is looking to expand the reach of its newest initiative to other smartphone platforms.
“We’ve shown them what we’ve built and we’re just in an ongoing conversation,†Mosseri said.
While just in the early stages of discussion, Mosseri noted Home could be a very different experience on iOS compared to Android, if Apple does end up collaborating on the software.
"It may or may not be Home,†he said, referring to the Android-only software. “We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it’s not called Home, it’s called something else.â€
The executive's statements echo those of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who during a question and answer session at Home's launch said, "Anything that happens with Apple is going to happen with partnership."
It was reported last week that Home was rapidly prototyped using Apple's Quartz Composer, a component the company ships with the Xcode development tools package, suggesting a move to iOS may not be an insurmountable task.
Facebook Home hit store shelves on April 12 as implemented in the HTC First handset, with the launcher going live in the Google Play app store that same day.