Facebook has released a new version of its iPhone application that brings much of the new settings the platform has made in recent months for the Web to iOS. Yet, Facebook’s new update does not offer support for the iPad and there is no word yet when the company might be releasing an optimized application for Apple’s tablet.
Facebook version 3.5 for iOS adds the ability to tag friends and places from posts, share external links from a Web view and a new design for profile and group walls posts. It also brings Facebook’s new privacy control and sharing settings that the company unveiled recently. In terms of functionality, it is a significant change for the iPhone app, but there is still much that Facebook needs to do to create a truly groundbreaking mobile experience.
Facebook also has a significant amount of bug fixes tied to the new update. It improves notification speeds, fixes bugs in the chat function, makes it easier to filter news feed items, keeps the notification bar from disappearing, and fixes bugs connected to photos. That is all in addition to the standard “improved performance and stability.”
We are still waiting for Facebook to come with the primary push from the so-called “Project Spartan” that theoretically will change the company’s entire mobile strategy. We do know that mobile game developers are hard at work creating Web apps for an HTML5 push from Facebook. It is notable that the newest iOS update has no additional iPad support as it is rumored that Facebook will push most of its tablet functionality out via a Web app through HTML5. In the larger picture, Facebook for iOS 3.5 is just a series of minor updates that makes sure its Web functionality matches its mobile app
Facebook’s developer conference, f8, is scheduled for Sept. 22 in San Francisco and no doubt a lot of these questions, among others, will be answered. Observers are looking for Facebook to make announcements for its music platform and other content initiatives, its mobile initiatives around Project Spartan, an iPad application or update on its status and privacy issues and sharing. There will also probably be a significant push to Facebook’s “Operation: Developer Love” that it has been working on over the last several months.
