Today Facebook released its long-awaited Facebook Platform on mobile, which brings all of the social channels to mobile apps and websites. It will be easily accessible on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and the mobile site, and arrives on the same day as the Facebook iPad app. Previously all Facebook games and apps were only available from a computer; now they can play from any device with a Web browser, especially if it’s an Apple iOS device.
This is great news for developers, who will be able to market their native and HTML5-based apps through the platform. In the meantime, iOS developers can will be able to utilize bookmarks, requests and the news feed in the same way that Facebook canvas developers do. Previously these were only available to websites and apps on Facebook.com on a desktop browser.
Right now Facebook users on the iPhone and iPad who are using the mobile web site (m.facebook.com) will be able to get bookmarks to the mobile versions of these apps.
This is the beginning of bringing Facebook apps to mobile – parallel viral channels will come to Android soon.
Facebook Mobile Bookmarks
When an app is used, a bookmark is added to a user’s main navigation on Facebook. Anyone who uses Facebook on the iPhone, iPad, and the mobile website (m.facebook.com) will get bookmarks to the mobile versions of these apps.
Facebook Requests For Mobile
If a user gets a request from a friend to join an app, they can easily accept the request from their iPhone. This goes for games, too. For example, if someone sends you a request to Sims Social and you look at it on the Facebook app of your iPhone, you’ll be taken to the Sims Social app. If you don’t already have the app, you’ll end up in Apple’s App Store. Android users will go to an HTML5 version in a mobile web browser.
Facebook News Feed
While it’s already possible to use the feed dialog, now users will be able to interact with those stories on mobile. Tapping on the link will land you on the mobile version of that app, whether or not it’s native iOS or a mobile web app. Clicking on news feed items will also send you to the HTML5-based app or the iTunes store to download the native version of the app.
Facebook Credits Go Mobile, But Not On iOS
Facebook Credits for mobile web apps, a payment system for virtual and digital items, are also available. In order to use Apps on Facebook, you’ll be required to use Facebook Credits as your exclusive payment method.
And here’s the big catch, from the Facebook Developer blog: “Native iOS apps and mobile web apps that are running within a Facebook iOS app may not use Facebook Credits.” In plain English, that means Facebook Credits are available on all mobile apps *except* iOS. Using them on iOS would violate Apple’s in-app purchasing rules. Because Facebook Credits is a native app, iOS users can’t use credits where they otherwise should be able to. So really, Facebook won’t allow users to use Facebook Credits on the native iPhone or iPad apps. Facebook has handed over control to Apple. We saw it coming.
Facebook Users’ Relationship with Mobile
Facebook claims that more than 250 million people interact with the platform through mobile devices, according to Researcher Benedict Evans. Of that 250 million, 86 million come to Facebook from the iPhone, and 76 million come from Android.
