Facebook is preparing to launch an iPad app — finally. So says The New York Times, citing people briefed on Facebook’s plans.
The app is indeed long overdue. Facebook has an iPhone application, but the iPad app has been elusive. Although many speculate as to why it has taken Facebook so long to develop an app for the larger form-factor device, the software appears to be coming this summer — with some compelling features.
“People who have seen the application said it has a slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface. Facebook developers and designers have also overhauled the Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features for the application,” the Times reported. “And the app will go beyond the features available on the Facebook web site by allowing users to shoot and upload photos and videos directly from the iPad’s built-in cameras.” (The iPad 2 has cameras, but the original iPad does not.)
An App for That
Jake Wengroff, global director of social media strategy at Frost & Sullivan, said it’s strange it has taken Facebook this long to create and launch an app for the iPad. In the meantime, he noted, the Friendly, iFace, MyPad and Friend Screen apps for the iPad remain popular in Apple’s App Store.
“Some say it’s politics between Facebook and Apple that have led to this delay. But this move signals a larger trend of the major social networks making calculated decisions to ‘take back’ control of their brand and user base,” Wengroff said.
“By launching native applications, they can control every aspect of the user experience — as well as that of the advertiser. This was seen recently with Twitter buying TweetDeck and launching its own URL-shortener and photo-sharing service.”
Build or Buy?
Indeed, social-media companies are often slow to respond. As Wengroff mentioned, Twitter just…
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