New York: Facebook Home, the new application that takes over the front screen of a smartphone, is a bit of a corporate home invasion. Facebook is essentially moving into Google's turf, taking advantage of software the search giant and competitor created.
Facebook Home will operate on phones running Google Inc.'s Android software and present Facebook status updates, messages and other content on the home screen, rather than making the user fire up Facebook's app. The software will be available for users to download on April 12 and will come preloaded on a new phone from HTC Corp., sold by AT&T Inc. in the US.
Google gives away Android, the most popular smartphone software in the world, in the hope that it will steer phone users toward Google services, such as Maps and Gmail, and the ads it sells. Compared to ads targeting PC surfers, mobile ads are a small market, but it's growing quickly. Research firm eMarketer expects US mobile ad spending to grow 77 per cent this year to $7.29 billion.
Facebook unveiled the Facebook Home app on Thursday. In simple terms, Facebook Home is a new app for Android. It is a new way to turn your Android phone into a social phone. Here are some interesting features of the Facebook Home app for Android:
Facebook, HTC teamed up and launched the first Faebook Home-optimised phone - HTC First.
Facebook Home is built around your friends and puts them at the centre of your phone.
A constant, fresh stream of photos and updates from your newsfeed, cover feed is always present when you wake up your phone. It lets you stay up-to-date on your friends' latest activities in real-time, all the time. You can swipe through to see more photos and updates, double tap to 'like' a post and comment right from cover feed.
Cover feed is great for seeing everything going on in the world. But when something happens that's more important and directed at you, like a friend posting on your timeline, you'll receive notifications with their profile pictures.
With chat heads you can keep chatting with friends even when you're using other apps. When friends send you messages, a chat head appears with your friend's face, so you see exactly who you're chatting with.
Messages reach you no matter what you're doing - whether you're checking email, browsing the web, or listening to music.
You can move chat heads around and respond to messages. And since SMS is integrated into Facebook Messenger for Android, chat heads include Facebook messages as well as texts.
HTC First is the only phone that comes with Instagram pre-loaded.
It's as easy to get to your apps in Home as it is on any other phone. Swipe up to see your favorite apps in the launcher. There's also a screen containing all of your apps, and you can drag your favorite apps to the launcher.
Facebook Home will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12.
Only six devices - HTC One, HTC One X , Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note II and HTC First will initially support the new Facebook Home app. It will work on more devices in the coming months.
Home will also be available pre-installed on phones through the Facebook Home Program. HTC has launched its first phone with Facebook Home name "HTC First". It goes on sale April 12.
Home is a completely new experience that lets you see the world through people, not apps, says Facebook.
Its new family of apps will let users display mobile versions of their newsfeed and messages prominently on the home screens of a wide range of devices based on Google's Android operating system.
It is a new way to turn your Android phone into a social phone.
With Home, Facebook is inserting itself between users and Google, diverting them to the social network's own ads and services. It's taking advantage of the fact that Google places few restrictions on how phone manufacturers and software developers modify Android. By contrast, Facebook Home would not work on the iPhone without approval from Apple Inc., and close collaboration with the company.
"Facebook Home can only reside on Android because only Google was daft enough to allow it," said independent phone analyst Horace Dediu, via Twitter.
At the launch event Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Google was aware of the project, but Facebook didn't work them to create Home. Asked if he believed Google could change tactics and restrict apps like Home, he said it was theoretically possible, but highly unlikely for Google to do a "180-degree change" in its stance on Android's openness.
It's not the first time a big Internet company has co-opted Android: Amazon.com has gone much farther with its Kindle Fire tablets. They run a version of Android that strips out all Google services, replacing them with Amazon's equivalents. Barnes & Noble Inc. does the same thing with its Nook tablets. These devices lie outside the Google system, whereas phones running Facebook Home still come with Google apps like Maps and the Play Store for music, movies and applications.
The Play Store has many examples of downloadable applications that modify the Android home screen - so-called "launchers." Home, however, represents the first time a major Internet company and Google competitor has created a downloadable launcher.
J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said Home may increase the pressure on Google to find ways to get people to spend more time on its Plus social network, which so far hasn't been as magnetic as Facebook's hangout. Anmuth also thinks the communication tools built into Home could decrease usage of Google's Gmail and Gchat services.
But Zuckerberg said the app will help Google.
"I think this is really good for Android," he told the audience at the launch event in Menlo Park, Calif. Developers do their best work on the iPhone first, but with Home, Facebook is putting Android first. If consumers want the Facebook Home experience, they'll have to get an Android phone.
In a statement, Google seemed to agree. "This latest device demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular," it said.
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/is-facebook-home-gatecashing-into-the-android-party/383366-11.html
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