Facebook wants to enhance your Android phone, not replace it

Apr 5, 2013 09:21 GMT  ·  By

Mark Zuckerberg has always said he isn't building a phone and he wasn't. HTC was though, but the phone is not the story, what's on that phone is. As the recent rumors made clear, Facebook hasn't been building a phone, but it hasn't been building just another Facebook app either.

Facebook Home, which made its debut at a Facebook event but which won't be available until April 12 and only for a few phones, is a set of apps designed to completely change the way you use your Android phone, while still making it just as capable as any other Android phone.

The proof to that is the fact that Facebook Home will be available in the Google Play Store and will be as easily installed as any other app.

Home replaces a number of default Android apps and functions, the lockscreen, the homescreen, the messaging app, the contacts app, the notifications, the app launcher and so on.

It transforms the Android experience, but it's still an Android experience. There are already launchers and apps that replace the stock one and the same goes for all other apps.

But they've been targeted at power users and people who want full control over their phones, pretty much the opposite of the average Facebook user.

Still, if people get through the initial hurdle of completely changing how their phone works, Facebook Home may prove very interesting to quite a few people.

Facebook is reaching for the widest possible audience here, it's not interested in people who already spend an unhealthy amount of time with the site/app.

Things like Cover feed are aimed at most people. As Facebook explains, it wants the lockscreen feed and the homescreen feed to be something you check out when you have a few minutes to spare. That's how most people use Facebook on their phones already, so it makes sense to double down on it.

"It's a window into what's happening with your friends - friends finishing a bike race, your family sharing a meal or an article about your favorite sports team," Facebook explains.

"You might have missed these updates before, but now they're a central part of the Home experience," it adds. "Cover feed is for those in-between moments ­like waiting in line at the grocery store or between classes ­when you want to see what's going on in your world."

While Facebook wants to be the first (and second and third) thing you see or do when you grab your phone, Home doesn't keep you from using any of your apps and games just like you would have before.

The fact that it doesn't force you to do anything you don't want to or prevent you from using your phone pretty much like before is very important and it may be a key factor in Home's success. But, again, the biggest hurdle is going to be to get people to install it.