Wow, just heard about this. I can't imagine installing an App and having it completely muck up the notification bar, look and feel and more for the phone.
If all you do is use Facebook on your phone then I guess this is magnificent.
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Me neither. But look at the mainstream, the youth. Mobile, FB and picture sharing is the new mass media.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is FB's first step into building an own mobile OS (or own distribution) since the main task of a mobile device is still communication with close contacts -- and that's all Facebook is about.
Yep no one should under estimate how many people are using SmartPhones almost exclusively for FaceBook and texting. That's why Messenger is so front and center in FaceBook Home. It covers both of the 'killer apps' for a lot of people. As far as developing their own mobile OS or Android distribution I think that's still Plan B depending on what Google does. I think they see way more potential in this transformative approach with FaceBook Home. They don't have any liability of not being competitive/diverse enough on hardware. Buy whatever you want -- cheap, expensive, big, small, whatever. Dipping their toes into hardware partnerships is a smart Plan B. I've never been too impressed by FaceBook's strategic moves especially in mobile but this transformative approach is brilliant. I would be shocked if other companies don't embrace the same strategy. It's going to really change the SmartPhone landscape and put Google in a very tough spot.
And I won't be surprised if Facebook OS is a fork of Android.
I see it more likely being a fork of Firefox OS or something new that takes the same route.
All Facebook should need is a browser for their OS, if they provide a browser as good as or better than Chrome for Android they should be fine. The Facebook apps we use on desktop are just browser apps, and it'd be very easy to win developers over that way, plus the App Center is already there serving web apps.
And going with the web should help them stay away from competing with partners like Apple and Microsoft.
All in all their bottom line is Facebook as a service, all they need is to provide something that brings users to using Facebook more and to see more ads.
They've likely even thought of this themselves but are waiting it out to see the web mature more.