It is no secret that almost no one likes Facebook’s HTML5 application for Android. It’s cumbersome, slow, and downright unpleasant to use. Thankfully, it seems that a native application is right around the corner, at least, that’s the tip Engadget received from inside the social networking giant.
Facebook recently did away with the cumbersome HTML5 application for iOS, and it is reporting that users are seeing twice as many stories as they did previously. It only stands to reason that this benefits Facebook because it provides more opportunities to put sponsored stories in front of users’ eyes. With about 600m of Facebook’s 1bn users accessing the site through a mobile device, it makes sense for the device to work, and it looks like Android will soon.
Of course, Facebook has not really figured out a way to make money off mobile users the same way they do on desktop. Perhaps this is why they were content to release a less than stellar version of the Android app in the first place. Still, if they want to leverage the popularity of mobile in a way that can make them money, step one seems like it should be having a fully functional application.
According to this leak, Facebook is testing the new app internally quite heavily. If it functions anything like the iOS app, Android users should be quite happy. Of course, we will find out more when the app hits the market, which should happen fairly soon.
hope it will come very soonly!
hope it will come very soonly!
Why don’t they just wrap Sencha’s fastbook in a native wrapper? Sencha seem to have solved the speed issues in their HTML5 iteration?!