The wait may finally be over for two very anticipated new arrivals. Not only will we be introduced to the fifth generation iPhone at Apple’s October 5th event, but we might also witness the arrival of Facebook’s iPad app.
According to Mashable, Facebook will launch their iPad app and also update their iPhone app at the event. It is said that strained negotiations between Apple and Facebook is the reason for the delay in launching the iPad app, which, according to an ex-Facebook developer, was nearly ready to be launched way back in May.
Back in July, accidental previews of the Facebook for iPad app were revealed on TechCrunch after an eagle eyed JailBreaker stumbled across the iPad app hidden within the iPhone app’s code.
The Facebook iPad app is a major overhaul of the UI used in their iPhone app and bears little resemblance to design of their much maligned and often criticized iPhone version. What’s more, the Facebook iPad app seems much more feature rich than the iPhone app with photo albums, messaging, status updates – all much improved .
It looks like the iPad app will give Facebook users the same desktop browser experience but on their iPads.
It is said that negotiations between Apple and Facebook broken down over the last year or so with neither company able to cross the finishing line while discussing possible deals with Ping integration in Facebook, and Facebook integration into iOS 5.
Instead of working with Facebook, Apple instead turned to Twitter for iOS 5 integration because “Mark Zuckerberg is a f*cking a**hole.”
It’s been a busy couple of months for Facebook who recently partnered with Spotify to offer Facebook users embedded Spotify support throughout Facebook.
Facebook also partnered with Skype to offer Skype users the ability to message Facebook friends through the VoIP app. And Facebook launched Facebook Messenger – a slimmed down app that lets you quickly initiate chat sessions with your Facebook friends.
But Facebook isn’t stopping there…
It is also expected that Facebook will launch a new mobile app platform by the codename of Project Spartan that will deliver Facebook apps through HTML5 on the iPad.