Facebook is prepping "Project Spartan," an HTML5-based platform for mobile apps that could challenge Apple's App Store, according to a new report.
Facebook could be prepping an HTML5-based platform for
mobile apps, something that could end up directly challenging Apple's App
Store.
"The initial target is both surprising and awesome: mobile
Safari," TechCrunch's MG Siegler, who claims to have seen the project
firsthand,
wrote
in a June 15 posting. "Facebook will never admit this, but those familiar
with the project believe the intention is very clear: to use Apple's own
devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app
distribution."
He goes on to claim that "80 or so outside developers" are
currently working with the social network on the project, which works in a very
streamlined fashion: from the mobile Web version of Facebook, tap an app you
want to load, and watch it run within a "Facebook wrapper." Moreover, users
could access Facebook features like credits within the context of the app,
which would bring the platform even closer to being an App Store challenger.
"Android will also clearly be a part of this new platform,"
he wrote. "But we're told that the initial target is definitely mobile Safari
on iOS devices."
Apple and Facebook's relationship status is definitely
complicated. In September 2010, Apple launched Ping, a social-networking
service built to allow millions of iTunes users to share their opinions on
music and artists. It connected with Twitter, but Facebook refused to build a
way to interoperate with Apple's network;
Apple
CEO Steve Jobs told AllThingsD's Kara Swisher that Mark Zuckerberg's
company wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to."
Facebook has also been moving closer to Microsoft, which
owns a minority stake in the social network. In February, Bing began
incorporating Facebook data into its algorithmic search.
Resulting
features include the ability to see, in search results, which Websites your
friends "Liked." In any case, Microsoft will surely applaud any effort to blunt
Apple's momentum in the mobile space, although an HTML5-based apps platform has
the potential to work against Microsoft's own attempt to build an app ecosystem
around its Windows Phone.
Facebook is also reportedly prepping a photo-sharing service
for mobile devices. While details remain scarce, TechCrunch's MG Siegler
posted some
screenshots June 15 that seem to show an application similar to other
mobile-photo apps currently on the market. Should this platform see the light
of day, it could potentially challenge Color, Instagram and other apps that
have lately attracted a good deal of attention and venture-capital dollars.
Facebook's rapid growth has also positioned it on a
collision course with Google for ad revenue. Research firm comScore recently
suggested the social network posted 31.2 percent of the 1.1 trillion display
ads in the United States, outpacing Google, which notched up 2.5 percent of
display-ad impressions. Google continues to hold around 95 percent of the
market for text-based search ads, although its acquisitions of DoubleClick and
YouTube suggest it recognizes the ultimate importance of display ads to its
bottom line.
Email
Print
