Facebook Home [1] , the new Android-based launcher that puts the social network and its messaging, photo and other services front and center on a user’s mobile device, is now available for download on Google Play [2] for a limited selection of Android devices: HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II. This comes after earlier today Facebook updated its Facebook Messenger Android app with Chat Heads functionality, as well as its basic Android app with Facebook Home support [3] .
Facebook debuted Home earlier this month . At the time it announced that it would be available on Google Play from today. Home is also coming pre-installed on the HTC First: this has been available on pre-order [4]  since April 4 on AT&T, and is officially on sale with AT&T [5] from today (with a little promotional help [6] from Facebook itself). The HTC First will be hitting France and the UK this summer  via France Telecom’s Orange and its EE JV in the UK.
You can see our full review of how Facebook Home works on the HTC First here .
Home is Facebook’s strongest swing yet at mobile, and points to the company’s ambition to be a platform for all of your communications, ever present, no matter what else you are doing: “the next version of Facebook [7] ,†in the words of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Other moves, such as this quiet acquisition of stealth startup Osmeta , point to how this may extend beyond just Android, too.)
This means that, while Home is still limited in how many people can use it â€" just the HTC First, along with four other devices (albeit including two handsets from the world’s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung) â€" and is limited in its functionality (no ads… yet [8] ), if things go to plan for Facebook, this is just the beginning.
In that vein, we’ll have to see what more Facebook does to promote the new app to drum up usage, and interest, going forward. We’ve already seen a commercial , along with messaging in several of its ad formats [9] like suggested posts and log-out screen ads. It’s likely that Facebook will place announcements on streams to also signal availability, perhaps targeting users of those four Android devices specifically, or perhaps targeting all of its Android users. Facebook’s own Mobile page has some 6.1 million likes.
In the meantime, a groan-inducing sidenote and PSA. Hoping to profit from people eager to be the first to get Facebook’s new Android launcher, one company calling itself “Facebook Inc†also launched “Facebook Home [10] †today. (I wrote to Facebook about this in the morning; the app now appears to have been taken down.)
Complete with copy-pastes of Facebook’s own marketing materials, this was a paid app â€" £0.65 in the UK â€" and once downloaded simply takes you to another app made by the same developer, “Friends Planet for Facebook.†(I do hope Google Play refunds the money I paid so that I could see what the app actually does.) Perhaps Facebook’s next step with Home should be developing an app store with tighter controls against counterfeits like this.
February 1, 2004
NASDAQ:FB
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original...
HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Phone 7 operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in late 2006, the company has introduced dozens of HTC-branded products around the world. The company recently introduced the HTC diamond to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and H T Cho - former CEO who is a chairman now, HTC made its name as...
Samsung is one of the largest super-multinational companies in the world. It’s possibly best known for it’s subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics company in the world.
AT&T Inc. (AT&T) is a holding company. AT&T is a provider of telecommunications services in the United States and worldwide. Services offered include wireless communications, local exchange services and long-distance services. AT&T operates in four segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions and Other. Its Wireless subsidiaries provide both wireless voice and data communications services across the United States, and through roaming agreements, in a substantial number of foreign countries. Wireline subsidiaries provide primarily landline voice and data communication services, AT&T...
Links
- ^ Facebook Home (www.facebook.com)
- ^ available for download on Google Play (play.google.com)
- ^ Facebook Home support (play.google.com)
- ^ pre-order (www.att.com)
- ^ officially on sale with AT&T (www.att.com)
- ^ promotional help (twitter.com)
- ^ the next version of Facebook (www.engadget.com)
- ^ no ads… yet (www.techmeme.com)
- ^ messaging in several of its ad formats (allthingsd.com)
- ^ Facebook Home (play.google.com)
- ^ â†' Learn more (www.crunchbase.com)
- ^ â†' Learn more (www.crunchbase.com)
- ^ â†' Learn more (www.crunchbase.com)
- ^ â†' Learn more (www.crunchbase.com)
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