14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has great ambitions, it doesn't want to be just another site, it wants to be another web. It wants people spending all of their time inside Facebook, whether it's listening to music, watching movies, or playing games and everything else.
The music and movie part it's already got covered, with the launch of the extended Open Graph. But it's also been working on expanding its app platform.
The success of companies like Zynga is enough to prove that Facebook's platform is a powerful asset. But, so far, it's been limited to the desktop, mobile devices, where apps are at home, were off limits.
But that won't be for long. There have been plenty of rumors about Project Spartan, Facebook's HTML5-based app platform for mobile devices.
Now, it's ready to go live. It's been ready for a while, but, as has been the case several times, Facebook has been holding off on releasing it until it can come to terms with Apple.
It's nearly done that, according to TechCrunch, and the mobile web platform could be launched along with iOS5 and the iPhone at the big event Apple is holding next week.
But if that falls through, which it still might, Facebook is prepared to go at it alone, and launch the platform at its own event on Monday.
Whatever happens, Facebook is very determined to enable developers to create apps, with standard web technologies, that run on mobile devices and desktops alike.
The apps will live inside Facebook, specifically, inside the Facebook mobile website. From there, users will be able to access any of their apps through a bookmarks menu.
Facebook has been working on this for months and it's been working with developers for this long as well. So, when the platform finally launches, there should be a solid selection of apps to choose from.