Facebook Still Has No iPad App But They're Building A Desktop Software Team?!
Facebook has no iPad app. It's ridiculous. Their iPhone app is the most downloaded app in the history of apps. And third-party iPad apps (many of which aim to trick users) constantly dominate the top 10 lists for both free and paid apps.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second year running that TechCrunch has flagged the same hole: back in April 2010 it covered the removal of the 'Facebook Ultimate' impostor from the App Store, yet the vacuum that app exploited still exists. As of May 2011 Facebook confirms no native iPad app, even though its iPhone app is the most downloaded app in history and lookalike iPad clients keep ranking in the top free and paid charts.
The twist in this report — picked up the same day by Inside Facebook — is that Facebook is reportedly staffing a desktop software team, possibly to build apps that track media consumption. If accurate, it would mean engineering effort flowing toward platforms where Facebook already dominates while the tablet gap stays open; the team itself remains unconfirmed.
First-order effects
- iPad owners have no official Facebook client, so the tablet audience must choose between the web and third-party apps, many built to trick users — the exact dynamic behind the 2010 'Facebook Ultimate' takedown.
- Facebook leaves tablet engagement and whatever advertising attaches to it uncaptured, while impostor developers harvest its brand in the top-10 free and paid charts.
Second-order effects
- Lookalike apps ranking so persistently make App Store trust a recurring enforcement problem for Apple, which keeps having to purge Facebook impostors rather than seeing the gap close.
- If the reported desktop software team is real, Facebook is allocating scarce client-engineering resources toward media-consumption tracking on existing strongholds instead of closing the highest-profile hole in its app portfolio.
Third-order effects
- A social platform of Facebook's scale shipping no first-party client on the fastest-growing device category suggests client priorities are being set by internal roadmap choices rather than user demand — a stance that cedes the tablet access point to third parties until the company decides otherwise.
The trend: Large social platforms increasingly treat which devices get first-party clients as a strategic allocation decision, leaving official gaps that impostor developers and substitute experiences rush to fill.