14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is working on something big. In fact, it seems to be working on several big things, all related to the mobile space. First came the news that it was working on its own photo-sharing app or looking to greatly expand the functionality of its photo section in its mobile apps and website.
Already, this is a pretty big deal for at least a couple of reasons, on the one hand Facebook is the biggest place on the web for photos, it completely dwarfs anything else out there and it's adding billions of new photos each month.
On the other, mobile photo apps are all the rage right now, Instagram has just passed five million users eight months after launch.
But Facebook has its sights set on something a lot bigger, it wants to dominate the mobile app space by providing a web-based platform for applications aimed at mobile devices, in the same way it's offering an app platform for the desktop. All of this comes from a couple of leaks revealed by TechCrunch. And both developments are huge.
At the moment, it isn't clear whether Facebook is looking to create a stand-alone photo app or to integrate much better functionality in its iPhone and Android apps and the mobile website.
Either way, people are going to use it, a lot of people are going to use it and, considering the success photo sharing apps have enjoyed lately, Facebook could get a lot of interest from users with such functionality.
At the same time, Facebook is working on something even bigger, dubbed Project Spartan, a HTML5-based platform for mobile applications. Developers will be able to create applications, using standard web technologies and deploy them via the Facebook platform.
All of these apps will work in the browser, bypassing the need to enter the iTunes App Store, the Android Market or the Amazon Appstore for that matter. And they get a potential audience of hundreds of millions of users, larger than any one mobile operating system.
Clearly, app makers will be looking forward to this and Facebook is said to already be working with about 80 third-parties to create applications on this new platform.
If the rumors turn out to be true, Facebook will be coming out guns blazing when this thing launches. Google and especially Apple should be scared.