Sources familiar with the Facebook integration into iOS 6 say the integration will be very similar to Twitter’s current iOS integration. Sending photos to Facebook from the Photos app, single sign-on for Facebook connected apps, and the ability to “like” apps from the App Store will all be included.
Besides content sharing, Apple is also relying on Facebook for a big new social change for the built-in App Store: a feature called “App Liking.” Discoverability has always been a major downside of the Apple mobile apps market with hundreds-of-thousands of software apps, but Apple will by relying on the world’s largest social network to help fix that problem. Inside individual application pages on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch App Store will be a standard Facebook “Like” button. If a user is logged into Facebook via iOS Settings, these app “Likes” will be sent to their Facebook Timelines. Accompanying status messages will also be an option.
As reported previously, the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, on both iOS devices and Macs, will be overhauled later this year. The new version of iOS will also include a new Maps application. The new software is expected to be launched in beta at WWDC later this month. The public release should be during fall of this year, debuting alongside the next-generation iPhone.