Facebook launches ‘Home’ for Android mobiles – and answers an advertising problem

Facebook has announced a new home screen or ‘launcher application’ for Android devices which will take over the user’s phone home screen to provide a Facebook-centric experience.

The software will act like a “wrapper” for the Android operating system and become the main way to use a phone, finding middle ground between an app and an operating system.

Images, messages and updates will appear on the main screen of the phone instead of being accessible via a downloadable app.

“Today, phones are built around tasks and apps,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said. “To see what’s happening with your friends, you pull out your phone and navigate through a series of separate apps.

“We asked ourselves ­if sharing and connecting are what matter most, what would your phone be like if it put your friends first?

“Our answer is Home…a completely new experience that lets you see the world through people, not apps.”

The move looks like good news for advertising: Facebook had been struggling to get people to use its platform on mobile, and when they did the traditional advertising that only works on a larger screen is lost. Building an entire system around Facebook throws the ball into their court, and also means they can essentially monitor phone use all the time, opening up new possibilities for mobile advertising.

Commenting on the announcement, Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum, said: “Any broadening of Facebook’s appeal on mobile devices would have to be broad-based, and the Android launcher approach allows it to target a huge installed base of hundreds of millions of Android users, which will be a large chunk of Facebook’s total user base of more than a billion people.

“To users, the sell here will be making it easier to share information, photos and so on with friends. But to Facebook, this is about becoming more deeply embedded in the operating system on mobile devices, and creating a broader platform. Since Facebook doesn’t make an operating system for mobile devices, this is the next best thing. It will allow Facebook to track more of a user’s behaviour on devices, and present more opportunities to serve up advertising, which is Facebook’s main business model.”

That presents the biggest obstacle to success for this experiment, says Dawson: Facebook’s objectives and users’ are once again in conflict. Users don’t want more advertising or tracking, and Facebook wants to do more of both.

“This is a great experiment for Facebook – it’s much lower risk than developing a phone or an operating system of its own, and if it turns out not to be successful, there will be little risk or loss to Facebook. If it does turn out to be successful, Facebook can build on the model further and increase the value provided in the application 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.”