9 ms·

Facebook launches App Center

41 points by sohamsankaran 14y ago

6841iam 14y ago
i think the app center could change everything for startups like YOU. facebook gets millions of eyeballs a day. with these eyeballs fb has the power to pick winners and losers for what appears before your eyes. just like the itunes did for apple. just imagine if your startup is fb's "promoted website of the week for travel", the possibilities are endless for you. all of this is of course moot, if fb doesn't promote their app center. as long as they promote it, offer discounts (the way amazon does for their appstore with their "free paid app a day", i think fb could change the way startups are promoted on the web. (itunes already does some of this for the pure mobile play.)
arihant 14y ago
"The App Center will begin rolling out to people in the U.S. today" What is up with Facebook and US-only products? Their Camera app is not available in most countries. Even their app for managing Pages isn't available in my app store (they still keep showing me the annoying message to download it). And it takes them literally order of magnitude of months (if ever) to get their products worldwide, like with Facebook check-ins.
- ifewalter 14y ago
  its not just Facebook with us-only or us-first products. i believe it has to do with legal issues with other countries.........or good old beta testing
  - 0x0 14y ago
    That's ridiculous. A free-of-charge iOS app can be published world-wide literally with the click of a single checkbox ("All stores") in iTunesConnect.
    - mrich 14y ago
      Has this always been the case? No, Apple gradually made all these countries available. Terms of use have to be drafted and reviewed by lawyers for each country. This will take time. Why go through all that trouble and wait months if you can gain valuable insights by a quick launch in your most importanht market?
      - ifewalter 14y ago
        Also all submitted apps goes through scrutiny before getting published. To make sure they dont violate any top conflicting issues in your distribution store
      - 0x0 14y ago
        Facebook's apps on the app store do not make use of the option for a custom EULA, so nothing there needs translation. If they are already launching for the US store, what possible benefit could there be to withhold the app from the many (small) european app stores? (And then proceed to put up huge banners in the other apps hassling users to download the new facebook camera and pages apps - even going so far as to provide a button that sends you an international SMS with a link that doesn't even work)
- frosty 14y ago
  You need to translate things for an international rollout which takes time. Plus US is a known devil and easier to rollout and look at numbers to fix the glitches.
  - 0x0 14y ago
    Doesn't sound right to me, I think many european users are fine with an app in English (in fact, many probably prefer it)
  - arihant 14y ago
    Sure. But that shouldn't be a reason to not launch it in India, for example. I have never seen a non-english keyboard in my life here. Very few countries have internationalization as a necessity. For most places, having the app in native language is a plus, but most people still frequently use the web in English. I mean, Instagram could figure all the rollout challenges with a single digit amount of people. One would expect a post-IPO company to do so too.
carterschonwald 14y ago
Am I reasonable in finding it incredibly amusing that the example in half the screen shots of this announcement are of pinterest?
- cldrope 14y ago
  You are reasonable. It's even more interesting considering the nosedive Facebook's taking that they'd purposefully abuse the presence of another for marketing purpose.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
drivingmenuts 14y ago
For some reason, I am revulsed by the idea of installing anything related to Facebook, yet will happily install something from Apple ... I think I might need to get my consumerism rotated.
chrischen 14y ago
How do you get apps listed here?
- baddox 14y ago
  From developers.facebook.com/apps, click on one of your apps, then click Edit Settings on the right, then click App Center on the left.
GuiA 14y ago
Facebook phone coming in 3...2...1...
- mjdecour 14y ago
  I hope Facebook builds a phone, than we can really start to watch them fall.
guynamedloren 14y ago
I don't get it... What is this for and why would I want to use it?
halayli 14y ago
Most of FB's products look cheap, and ad-oriented made for naive users. There is a lack of design, and perfectionism. Compare the FB page with http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/ http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/
- puppymaster 14y ago
  In this instance, I for one prefer FB's app center to that Apple page.
  - halayli 14y ago
    I won't argue about design taste. :)
- digitalengineer 14y ago
  Like Zuckerberg said: Move fast, fix later. Design is important (hell, I'm a designer) but not the most important thing when launching. They'll improve it later. They didn't go around buying up talented designers like SOFA for nothing: http://www.madebysofa.com/ http://www.madebysofa.com/
  - halayli 14y ago
    Facebook is sitting on tons of cash. If they cannot attract talented designers then they are in trouble. Design is very important IMO. You think the majority of fb users will say 'oh look at those nice features'? I bet you not, they'll say I like Facebook or I don't like Facebook because that's how they feel. Design highly influences the user's feelings.
  - forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
    " Like Zuckerberg said: Move fast, fix later." And you will have a good enough product but never an awesome one, as "later" never comes, and when it comes the person that created the feature is not in the company or is not available or does not remember why he did it the way he did it or they are cascade bugs.... This approach was used by American cars and was very good for testing different things while the industry evolved, but when industry matured the Japanese(and German) with the "stop the assembly line until the bug is fixed" won. Sometimes good enough wins, some time perfectionism does.
mjdecour 14y ago
Facebook has lost it... they seem to have completely lost focus on what they are trying to do. They just made their user experience even worse by adding more crap.
- hdctambien 14y ago
  So, Facebook is going to fail because they only have Ads. And Facebook is going to fail when they release products other than ads?
  - waterlesscloud 14y ago
    It's to the point that there's probably a small handful of people who comment on Facebook that are worth listening to. The saturation point has been reached and there's very little original thought left, just endless regurgitation of shallow "analysis". FB will do what FB does.
thefreshteapot 14y ago
Near the end of the screencast they show "send to mobile". It then appears they show you the Apple App Store. This could lead to easier app discovery.
nshankar 14y ago
http://www.thinkezy.com/blog/?p=144 http://www.thinkezy.com/blog/?p=144
borlak 14y ago
introducing: an app store inside an app you got from an app store!
- mitjak 14y ago
  As silly as it seems, I think there's tremendous power in that concept. For a lot of people Facebook is one of the few apps in use. Providing apps inside Facebook sounds like a great way to capture the audience Apple is missing out on.
- mjdecour 14y ago
  Brilliant! not...lol
kyt 14y ago
Maybe this will be MySpace 2.0 after all.
mtgx 14y ago
I don't get the point of this.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
elderberry 14y ago
I just realized that bar at the top of the page design meme has gotten really popular after facebook.
- nc 14y ago
  It's not a meme, people copy stuff that works.
  - netcan 14y ago
    Isn't that the definition of a meme?
digitalengineer 14y ago
This could become bigger than Android if they curate and check the apps beforehand. Trust is required to install apps. With Apple you know the apps are authentic. Facebook could deliver the same 'sender ID guaranteed' function. (And of course Facebook captures all the data as well). I expect they'll copy Apple's GateKeeper: http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/security.html http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/security.html
sangaya 14y ago
"lets you browse the apps your friends use" & "If a mobile app requires a download, you’ll be sent to install it from the Apple App Store or Google Play." Are they anything more than a filter on the existing app stores based on my friends usage? What is my motivation as a user to install their app store? Also, I checked the Privacy settings on my Facebook account and it is not clear how to ensure my app usage is not shared with others. Features first, respect of users' privacy last.
- majani 14y ago
  Seems like a trojan horse disruption tactic to me. Playing nice at first, then when they get some real traction, they'll reveal their true intentions.
smackfu 14y ago
It's a nice idea to have a common app store for all platforms. I imagine the flow is supposed to be: 1) You friend uses Pinterest or Spotify and has a wall post from it. 2) You are interested so you follow the link to that app. 3) You follow a link to the new app store. 4) The app store provides downloads for iOS / Android / desktop / etc. The point from Facebook's end is that step (3) would currently be a link outside of Facebook. If they can keep that inside, better for them.
thatusertwo 14y ago
I wish Facebook would just go away.

41 points by sohamsankaran 14y ago

i think the app center could change everything for startups like YOU. facebook gets millions of eyeballs a day. with these eyeballs fb has the power to pick winners and losers for what appears before your eyes. just like the itunes did for apple. just imagine if your startup is fb's "promoted website of the week for travel", the possibilities are endless for you. all of this is of course moot, if fb doesn't promote their app center. as long as they promote it, offer discounts (the way amazon does for their appstore with their "free paid app a day", i think fb could change the way startups are promoted on the web. (itunes already does some of this for the pure mobile play.)

arihant 14y ago

"The App Center will begin rolling out to people in the U.S. today" What is up with Facebook and US-only products? Their Camera app is not available in most countries. Even their app for managing Pages isn't available in my app store (they still keep showing me the annoying message to download it). And it takes them literally order of magnitude of months (if ever) to get their products worldwide, like with Facebook check-ins.

ifewalter 14y ago
its not just Facebook with us-only or us-first products. i believe it has to do with legal issues with other countries.........or good old beta testing
- 0x0 14y ago
  That's ridiculous. A free-of-charge iOS app can be published world-wide literally with the click of a single checkbox ("All stores") in iTunesConnect.
  - mrich 14y ago
    Has this always been the case? No, Apple gradually made all these countries available. Terms of use have to be drafted and reviewed by lawyers for each country. This will take time. Why go through all that trouble and wait months if you can gain valuable insights by a quick launch in your most importanht market?
    - ifewalter 14y ago
      Also all submitted apps goes through scrutiny before getting published. To make sure they dont violate any top conflicting issues in your distribution store
    - 0x0 14y ago
      Facebook's apps on the app store do not make use of the option for a custom EULA, so nothing there needs translation. If they are already launching for the US store, what possible benefit could there be to withhold the app from the many (small) european app stores? (And then proceed to put up huge banners in the other apps hassling users to download the new facebook camera and pages apps - even going so far as to provide a button that sends you an international SMS with a link that doesn't even work)
frosty 14y ago
You need to translate things for an international rollout which takes time. Plus US is a known devil and easier to rollout and look at numbers to fix the glitches.
- 0x0 14y ago
  Doesn't sound right to me, I think many european users are fine with an app in English (in fact, many probably prefer it)
- arihant 14y ago
  Sure. But that shouldn't be a reason to not launch it in India, for example. I have never seen a non-english keyboard in my life here. Very few countries have internationalization as a necessity. For most places, having the app in native language is a plus, but most people still frequently use the web in English. I mean, Instagram could figure all the rollout challenges with a single digit amount of people. One would expect a post-IPO company to do so too.

carterschonwald 14y ago

Am I reasonable in finding it incredibly amusing that the example in half the screen shots of this announcement are of pinterest?

cldrope 14y ago
You are reasonable. It's even more interesting considering the nosedive Facebook's taking that they'd purposefully abuse the presence of another for marketing purpose.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

drivingmenuts 14y ago

For some reason, I am revulsed by the idea of installing anything related to Facebook, yet will happily install something from Apple ... I think I might need to get my consumerism rotated.

chrischen 14y ago

How do you get apps listed here?

baddox 14y ago
From developers.facebook.com/apps, click on one of your apps, then click Edit Settings on the right, then click App Center on the left.

GuiA 14y ago

Facebook phone coming in 3...2...1...

mjdecour 14y ago
I hope Facebook builds a phone, than we can really start to watch them fall.

guynamedloren 14y ago

I don't get it... What is this for and why would I want to use it?

halayli 14y ago

Most of FB's products look cheap, and ad-oriented made for naive users. There is a lack of design, and perfectionism. Compare the FB page with http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/ http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/

puppymaster 14y ago
In this instance, I for one prefer FB's app center to that Apple page.
- halayli 14y ago
  I won't argue about design taste. :)
digitalengineer 14y ago
Like Zuckerberg said: Move fast, fix later. Design is important (hell, I'm a designer) but not the most important thing when launching. They'll improve it later. They didn't go around buying up talented designers like SOFA for nothing: http://www.madebysofa.com/ http://www.madebysofa.com/
- halayli 14y ago
  Facebook is sitting on tons of cash. If they cannot attract talented designers then they are in trouble. Design is very important IMO. You think the majority of fb users will say 'oh look at those nice features'? I bet you not, they'll say I like Facebook or I don't like Facebook because that's how they feel. Design highly influences the user's feelings.
- forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
  " Like Zuckerberg said: Move fast, fix later." And you will have a good enough product but never an awesome one, as "later" never comes, and when it comes the person that created the feature is not in the company or is not available or does not remember why he did it the way he did it or they are cascade bugs.... This approach was used by American cars and was very good for testing different things while the industry evolved, but when industry matured the Japanese(and German) with the "stop the assembly line until the bug is fixed" won. Sometimes good enough wins, some time perfectionism does.

mjdecour 14y ago

Facebook has lost it... they seem to have completely lost focus on what they are trying to do. They just made their user experience even worse by adding more crap.

hdctambien 14y ago
So, Facebook is going to fail because they only have Ads. And Facebook is going to fail when they release products other than ads?
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  It's to the point that there's probably a small handful of people who comment on Facebook that are worth listening to. The saturation point has been reached and there's very little original thought left, just endless regurgitation of shallow "analysis". FB will do what FB does.

thefreshteapot 14y ago

Near the end of the screencast they show "send to mobile". It then appears they show you the Apple App Store. This could lead to easier app discovery.

nshankar 14y ago

http://www.thinkezy.com/blog/?p=144 http://www.thinkezy.com/blog/?p=144

borlak 14y ago

introducing: an app store inside an app you got from an app store!

mitjak 14y ago
As silly as it seems, I think there's tremendous power in that concept. For a lot of people Facebook is one of the few apps in use. Providing apps inside Facebook sounds like a great way to capture the audience Apple is missing out on.
mjdecour 14y ago
Brilliant! not...lol

kyt 14y ago

Maybe this will be MySpace 2.0 after all.

mtgx 14y ago

I don't get the point of this.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

elderberry 14y ago

I just realized that bar at the top of the page design meme has gotten really popular after facebook.

nc 14y ago
It's not a meme, people copy stuff that works.
- netcan 14y ago
  Isn't that the definition of a meme?

digitalengineer 14y ago

This could become bigger than Android if they curate and check the apps beforehand. Trust is required to install apps. With Apple you know the apps are authentic. Facebook could deliver the same 'sender ID guaranteed' function. (And of course Facebook captures all the data as well). I expect they'll copy Apple's GateKeeper: http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/security.html http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/security.html

sangaya 14y ago

"lets you browse the apps your friends use" & "If a mobile app requires a download, you’ll be sent to install it from the Apple App Store or Google Play." Are they anything more than a filter on the existing app stores based on my friends usage? What is my motivation as a user to install their app store? Also, I checked the Privacy settings on my Facebook account and it is not clear how to ensure my app usage is not shared with others. Features first, respect of users' privacy last.

majani 14y ago
Seems like a trojan horse disruption tactic to me. Playing nice at first, then when they get some real traction, they'll reveal their true intentions.

smackfu 14y ago

It's a nice idea to have a common app store for all platforms. I imagine the flow is supposed to be: 1) You friend uses Pinterest or Spotify and has a wall post from it. 2) You are interested so you follow the link to that app. 3) You follow a link to the new app store. 4) The app store provides downloads for iOS / Android / desktop / etc. The point from Facebook's end is that step (3) would currently be a link outside of Facebook. If they can keep that inside, better for them.

thatusertwo 14y ago

I wish Facebook would just go away.