Facebook's Answer To The App Store Is Days From Launching
Facebook's App Center, an App Store equivalent for Facebook applications, is launching in the coming days, according to a source briefed by Facebook on the service. — The launch date could be as soon as today or tomorrow, our source said.
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook had already outlined App Center in its May 9 developer announcement, framing it as a way for users to find social applications across web and mobile. The reported launch timing turns that plan into a distribution surface for apps including Draw Something, Pinterest and Nike+ GPS.
First-order effects
- Facebook gains a dedicated catalog for directing users to social apps, while featured developers gain a new discovery channel inside Facebook.
- Users can find participating web and mobile apps through Facebook rather than encountering them only through individual app-store searches.
Second-order effects
- The App Store faces an adjacent discovery surface for social apps, giving developers a reason to pursue Facebook placement alongside store search.
- Facebook can make app discovery part of its mobile product experience, increasing the value of developers building applications that use its platform.
Third-order effects
- If adoption follows, social networks can become intermediaries in app distribution, using identity and in-network discovery rather than relying exclusively on device-platform storefronts.
The trend: App discovery is expanding from device-owned storefronts toward platforms that can route users to software through their social graphs.