GigaOm
Facebook may not be building a mobile phone, as has been rumored, but it does want to be at the center of almost everything you do with your phone in the future.
Ryan Kim writes that Facebook’s mobile announcement Wednesday touched on three themes: mobile identity, unified location check-ins and local deals for consumers using Facebook Places. Kim explains each:
- Mobile identity: “enabling a single sign-on for mobile apps so users can sign in with one button click, without having to fill in a password.”
- Unified location check-ins: “Opening up its location API for Facebook Places so developers can fully integrate Facebook’s location service into their apps.”
- Local deals: “Offering support for businesses to offer local deals to existing and new customers. When a user checks in at a location, a business owner can offer individual discounts, loyalty rewards for repeat customers or group discounts for people who check-in with friends.”
There’s more detail in the GigaOm post.
During the event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a “made for Twitter” moment when he said that his company is not building an iPad app because the device is “not mobile. It’s a computer.” He later clarified that the iPad is not mobile in the same sense as a phone. “We all love Apple products here, and we want to work with them and all that. I just want to keep the event focused on what we’re doing today.”
