Kqpl Facebook’s iPhone update paves the way for ap
But Facebook does have a few things going for it–it’s big, popular, and helps Apple sell more iPhones and iPods by being a must-have application. It has also maintained its own directory of applications for the last two years. And like Apple, what applications are able to do within the confines of the service is limited; for mobile versions of apps,timberland boots, those limitations could be even tighter.
To a certain degree, Facebook already put its foot in the door with a version of its Facebook Connect service for iPhone applications. Applications that have implemented it can have their users log in with their Facebook credentials. It also can give the app access to their profile and friends list to pipe information back out. Simply making this information more readily available within the app would make inroads toward standalone apps within it.
So is there room for third-party apps in this new ecosystem? Definitely, and much more so than would have been possible in previous versions.
Facebook's iPhone update paves the way for apps
We still get a pitch about a new Facebook app now and again, but truth is, that ship sailed long ago. Most Facebook apps just don’t have the wow factor they once did when the platform was new. With the company’s latestiPhone app update, however, the wow could be coming back on a smaller scale.
These saved items go up on 3×3 grid that can be rearranged and expanded,timberlands boots, depending on how many pages and contacts users decide to add. This makes it much simpler to hop back and forth between certain parts of the site–that is, as long as you’ve planned ahead.
But Facebook could make available new application-programming interfaces, or APIs, that would let developers pipe some of that data to a mobile version too. Third-party applications could then be programmed to work within the confines of the Facebook application itself, meaning that each one could access other official features as they do on the standard site.
(Credit:CNET)
One of the most interesting changes is how the app has been designed to feel very familiar to the iPhone user interface. For instance, no matter what you’re doing on the app, you can touch anywhere on the top of the screen to go back “home.” You can also save shortcuts to a friend’s profile or to one of the social network’s public-facing pages.
What can be safely assumed is that Facebook would stand to run into the most trouble with Apple’s approval process. Having apps that are installed inside an in-app marketplace means emulating what the iPhone does with its own native application store, which is a big no-no. But again, this is something Facebook could get around by limiting what applications are able to do, be it running in a Web canvas page or simply piping their data through Facebook as an intermediary.
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET’s blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh.