Facebook iPad app on the way: report
An iPad Facebook app – a piece of software heretofore inexplicably missing from the iPad ecosystem – is finally on the way. That's the word from Nick Bilton at the New York Times, who reports that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, is "heavily invested" in the app development process. Expect the iPad Facebook app to use the front- and rear-facing cameras to provide a more immersive multimedia experience.
"The photo and video experience is amazing, offering full resolution and full-screen images," a person who has seen the app told Bilton. Facebook, for its part, has remained mum on details of an iPad app, as has Apple. But clearly a Facebook iPad app is only a matter of time, especially considering the success of the iPad line, and the almost-certainly forthcoming Apple iPad 3.
Moreover, as Leslie Horn of PC Mag notes, Facebook can hardly afford to wait on releasing an iPad app – in the absence of an official application, users have turned to software such as iFace and Friendly (or simply logged onto Facebook via the Safari browser, a less than fluid user experience). And Facebook, which is apparently gearing up for a public offering, needs all the clicks (and ads) that it can get.
Earlier this month, the tech site Inside Facebook published some numbers showing that while Facebook membership continues to grow worldwide, "overall growth is lower than normal for the second month straight." Even worse, the site says the US lost nearly 6 million Facebook users in May, down to 149.4 million.
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