Facebook has launched ‘Home’, a new app that that puts feeds from the social network on the home screen of Android phones. Watch this presentation video from Mark Zuckerberg (courtesy of the Daily Telegraph) The software, called Home, was unveiled at an event in California by the company’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. The tool works by […]
Facebook has launched ‘Home’, a new app that that puts feeds from the social network on the home screen of Android phones.
Watch this presentation video from Mark Zuckerberg (courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)
The software, called Home, was unveiled at an event in California by the company’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The tool works by replacing the home screen of Android phones that integrates the social network with other apps. It will hide apps and instead pipe all the content and chat carried on via the social network to the home screen.
The change will also let Facebook track more of a user’s behaviour on devices to serve up more relevant ads.
The software will act like a “wrapper” for the Android operating system and become the main way to use a phone.
Features include Cover Feed, which replaces the traditional Android home screen and allows users to swipe through photos and status updates posted by their contacts.
Chat Heads let users interact with their friends while using other apps, which are accessed through Facebook’s new App Launcher.
Notifications, images and messages will appear on the main screen of the phone instead of being accessible via a downloadable app.
Watch this short clip from Facebook explaining how the service works.:
Zuckerberg said the change would put people, not apps, at the heart of the mobile experience.
He asserted that phone apps were a legacy of the computer world in which people clicked on an icon to start a program. While this worked well with desktops and laptops, it made less sense with phones, he said.
“Now there’s a new use case that’s more and more important,” he said. “We have our phones with us all the time and we want to know more what’s happening to our friends.”
The move stops short of a standalone Facebook phone that many in the industry have been anticipating for years, but Zuckerburg insisted that would be “the wrong strategy”.
“We’re not building a phone or an operating system but we are building something that’s much deeper than an ordinary app,” he said. “The home screen is the soul of the phone. You look at it about 100 times a day and it sets the tone for your whole experience. We think it should be deeply personal.”
HTC ‘First’ to sign up
HTC First, a new phone built around Facebook Home, will be the first device to be pre-loaded with the software.
The phone, which will cost $100 (£66), goes on sale in the United States on April 12, the same date the software will be available to download on selected Android device.
The software will be available via Google’s Play Store as a download and will work only with phones running Android 4.0 or higher.
Facebook home will be available from 12 April on six phones – three from HTC and three from Samsung. Only four of these handsets are available now. The others are set to launch alongside Facebook home.
No information was given about whether home would be re-developed to work with Apple or Microsoft phones.
Facebook said users could try the software rather than have to commit to use it all the time. Initially, the code will only be available for phones but a version for tablets is under development.
Cory Ondrejka, Facebook’s head of engineering, said the company started its push to make everything it did centre on mobiles in early 2012. Figures from Facebook suggest that users spend about 25% of their time on their handsets looking at their feeds and chatting with friends.
Nearly 70% of its one billion members use smartphones and tablets to access the service, while 157 million people log on solely from mobile devices.
Shares in the company, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, climbed around 3% to $27.03 (£17.81) within an hour of the launch at its Menlo Park headquarters.
Watch the first ad for Facebook Home here:
