App Center provides plenty of incentives to app makers

Jun 8, 2012 09:23 GMT  ·  By

Facebook's App Center is here. The feature should make it easier for users to discover new apps and for developers to expand their audience. The App Center works on all devices and is the most interesting on the mobile platforms since it goes head to head, to a degree, with the native app marketplaces.

Facebook's App Center is somewhat of a Trojan horse though. It does send users to the App Store and the Google Play Store, but any app that wants to be featured in the App Center, including mobile apps, have to be integrated into the Facebook platform, i.e. at least have a Facebook login.

"Today we're launching the App Center to make it easier to find apps you can enjoy with friends," Facebook wrote.

"The App Center features mobile and web apps, such as Draw Something, Pinterest, and Nike+ GPS, and new apps including Jetpack Joyride, Ghosts of Mistwood, and Ghost Recon Commander," it added.

What is different about the App Center is the customization. Since Facebook knows so much about you and your friends, and you are telling it more all the time, it can come up with personal recommendations and suggestions. The App Center's homepage is different for all users.

Of course, all apps benefit from Facebook's viral avenues, like friend recommendations, notifications and so on. This should make it easier for apps to gain visibility so there is a big incentive, even for mobile apps, to get into the App Center. Facebook's 900 million users are a big draw as well.

"To make it easier to find social apps for mobile, the App Center is available in the Facebook iOS and Android apps, as well as Facebook.com," Facebook explained.

"You can send apps you find on your computer to your mobile device using the new 'Send to Mobile' feature. If a mobile app requires a download, you’ll be sent to install it from the Apple App Store or Google Play," it said.

There are two types of mobile apps that Facebook supports, web apps and native ones. Web apps are the most interesting for Facebook, since they don't depend on any mobile platform and Facebook can take a cut from paid apps, something it can't do with native ones.

The App Center launches in the US, though it works everywhere, with 600 apps. It's not a huge number, it's a very small one in fact, but it's enough to get things going and there will be a lot more apps coming soon.