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Facebook to Launch iPad App, Preparing Web-Based Mobile Platform

Friday June 17, 2011 8:00 am PDT by Eric Slivka
The New York Times reports that Facebook is finally set to release a free iPad app "in coming weeks", remedying a curious omission for the social networking service that touts over 600 million users worldwide.
People briefed on Facebook's plans say that in coming weeks the company plans to introduce a free iPad application that has been carefully designed and optimized for the tablet.

The app has been in production at Facebook for almost a year, going through several design iterations, and is now in the final stages of testing, according to these people, who declined to be named because they were discussing confidential product plans.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who along with other company executives noted last November that the company was still been trying to decide how best to handle the iPad, is said to have been "heavily involved" in the app's development.
People who have seen the application said it has a slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface. Facebook developers and designers have also overhauled the Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features for the application. And the app will go beyond the features available on the Facebook Web site by allowing users to shoot and upload photos and videos directly from the iPad’s built-in cameras.
Facebook's iPad app comes just as TechCrunch reports that the company is preparing to launch a new HTML5-based mobile platform codenamed "Project Spartan" that would take on iOS on its home turf by running within the mobile Safari browser.
As of right now, there are believed to be 80 or so outside developers working with Facebook on Project Spartan. These teams are working on apps for the platform that range from games to news-reading apps. Some of the names should be familiar: Zynga and Huffington Post (owned by our parent AOL), for example. The goal is to have these apps ready to roll in the next few weeks for a formal unveiling shortly thereafter.
Facebook's vision for Project Spartan reportedly includes integration of its Facebook Credits payment system that would allow developers to offer paid apps and in app purchases directly through the web-based platform.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tags: Facebook, nytimes.com, techcrunch.com
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Don't Buy)
[ 118 comments ]


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JS82712
100 months ago
perhaps they should fix their crappy iPhone app first? :rolleyes:
Rating: 20 Votes
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TimUSCA
100 months ago
Two words: About time.
Rating: 17 Votes
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cmaier
100 months ago

Sort of like how Steve Jobs copied Xerox?


By getting permission any paying them?
Rating: 14 Votes
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LegendKillerUK
100 months ago

perhaps they should fix their crappy iPhone app first? :rolleyes:


Man alive has that thing gone to **** in the last few months.
Rating: 11 Votes
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ibis99
100 months ago
HaHaHa!

Marc Zuckerberg says "the ipad is not mobile"

Now there's an App for that. Idiot.
Rating: 9 Votes
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cmaier
100 months ago

lol as if apple doesn't track and gather data of their iOS users!


Sticking "as if" in front of a false statement doesn't make it true. Apple doesn't track iOS users.
Rating: 6 Votes
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ATMB
100 months ago
Couldn't they first fix the iPhone app which causes vomit?
Rating: 5 Votes
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Kieranic
100 months ago

Why would anyone be interested in a specific app for Facebook, when Facebook is primarily a website? Do devices such as the iPad have trouble offering Facebook via web browsers?


Uploading photos (taken via iPad which is pretty good for Facebook), uploading video and chatting with friends from it.

Due to Safari's restrictions, you can't upload photos or videos using it and you can't chat in Safari either. Plus the app will look nicer most likely.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Will do good
100 months ago
Why use Facebook?
Rating: 4 Votes
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GQB
100 months ago


Maybe that's why it's taken so long?


Because Facebook's developers (starting historically with Z-man) apparently can't program their way out of a paper bag.
Face it... FaceBook is probably the most pathetic web design I've ever seen.
Can't modify posts without deleting and re-posting? Really?
Page re-draws happen when you've been reading half-way down the page for over a minute, scrolling your current position to god knows where?
And don't even start about the intentional maze that is their security settings.

That said, what's the big fear that's supposed to have Apple quivering in their boots about the 'app store'. A place to download web-apps? Big deal. Maybe the fact that they'll somehow allow web-app scripters to commoditize their widgets? Hardly competition for polished apps on THE App Store.

I'll get the iPad app, but only to see if they figure out how do do such a simple thing right for a change.

Sort of like how Steve Jobs copied Xerox?


The word is 'licensed'. Look it up sometime before spewing.
And before Jobs licensed it, it was sitting on a shelf in PARC gathering dust.
Innovation means actually producing things. Otherwise I assume you're on the side of the patent trolls?
Rating: 3 Votes

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