Facebook all set to 'launch' your mobile
Facebook is preparing a "launcher" application that will take over the home screen on a mobile phone running on Android and provide a Facebook-centric experience and way of interacting with the device.
Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum, said last week that the Facebook launcher approach allowed it to target a huge base of Android users, bringing the social media website’s total user base to more than a billion people.
For users, the app will make it easier to share information, photos and other content with friends. But for Facebook, this is about becoming more deeply embedded in the operating system on mobile devices and creating a broader platform.
Since Facebook has not designed an operating system for mobile devices, this is the next best thing as it will allow the site to track user’s behaviour and present more opportunities to serve up advertising, which is the social-media giant’s main business model.
However, that presents the biggest obstacle to success for this experiment. Facebook’s objectives and those of users’ are once again in conflict. Users don’t want more advertising or tracking, while Facebook wants more of both.
Hence, Facebook is opting for this experiment as it is a lot less risky than developing a phone or an operating system of its own, because if it turns out to be not so successful, it can be discontinued without any loss.
If it does turn out to be successful, then Facebook can build on the model and increase the value provided in the app over time. The biggest challenge will be that it can’t replicate this experience on iOS, Windows Phone or BlackBerry – the three other main platforms.
For service providers though, the risk is that Facebook at the front and centre of the device and makes it more integrated with the core of the device, hence accelerating the shift from carrier services to “over the top” services. It would be a big boost for Facebook Messenger and other associated voice and video services.
Ovum forecasts that social messaging would hurt SMS revenues on a global basis, with losses growing from US$32.6 billion (Bt954 billion) this year to over $86 billion in 2020.
