More and more details are emerging about Facebook’s next BIG thing. It is expected that Facebook will this morning (10AM PST) announce Skype integration within Facebook for video chatting between friends. But Facebook is also said to be announcing something else that they describe as “awesome”.
It is anticipated that this awesome announcement could be a partnership (aka marriage of convenience) between Facebook and Apple that will not only see a Facebook for iPad app but also a deal struck between the two giants that will see a HTML5 mobile application platform, dubbed Project Spartan, arrive on iOS 5.
One of the developers within Project Spartan spoke to TechCrunch’s MC Siegler and enthused that the apps they’re developing for this platform are really surprising with regards to quality and many of the apps are games focused.
Another developer said that:
Facebook wants a cut of the Apple’s mobile app market, that’s been clear this entire time. Perhaps it’s not war against Apple — maybe Apple is just going to ‘gift’ Facebook the share of their market (the HTML5 share) in exchange an alliance being formed whereby Apple get’s some exclusive access to Facebook’s 600 million-plus users and thereby cutting out Google (exclusive to some degree, Facebook is too open for it to be fully exclusive). In this theory, it’s not Facebook Spartans vs. Apple, it’s Facebook/Apple Spartans Vs Google.
How likely is it that Apple would give Facebook the thumbs up to create their own HTML5 focused platform within Mobile Safari that bypasses the App Store? And if Apple didn’t want to let Facebook create this platform, can they even prevent this from happening?
Steve Jobs announced massive Twitter integration into iOS 5 at WWDC but there was no mention of Facebook. It was a bit strange that Apple would integrate Twitter (which has far less users) and completely ignore Facebook (which has 600+ million). Could Apple be opening the door to let Facecbook in from the cold or will we see a war between these two giants this summer?
Either way, this is far more exciting than the browser wars of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Let’s hear it for the social network war. A war between Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Apple.
Google and Twitter have already fallen out over real-time search in Google search results and they have cancelled their contracts. It is expected that Google will instead look to Google +1 instead of Twitter retweets to power realtime search and to determine what’s hot on social networks. And of course, Google launching Google+ has lit a fire under Facebook and they’re sure to be looking over their shoulder.
Exciting and interesting times ahead.