Facebook has launched its own app store, offering apps personalised to users’ entertainment habits, as the social network looks to prove its mobile credentials ahead of its much-anticipated stock market flotation.
The move will put the social network in competition with Apple, Google and Amazon in the growing app store wars.
For the first time software developers can sell apps to consumers directly on Facebook.
The App Centre will use Facebook Credits as currency, much like how users purchase virtual goods through Farmville, and Facebook will take a 30% cut of all earnings.
The Centre will feature the most popular apps such as Spotify, Draw Something and Pinterest and order them on a variety of criteria such as with user ratings, the average time spent using the app and how often it is voluntarily shared, so each leader board is customised to every user.
Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich said Facebook is introducing the app service to give software developers additional options, but the company expects in-app purchases to remain more prevalent on the social network.
Apps, ranging from social games to music services, are popular activities on Facebook, the world’s No.1 online social network with roughly 900 million users. According to the company, 200 of the apps that are available on Facebook have more than 1 million users.
The App Center will feature apps that designed for PCs as well as for mobile devices such as iPhones and Android smartphones.
If a mobile app requires installation for the mobile device, Facebook said it will direct users to Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play store to download the app.
However, the company has also revealed that many of its users are migrating to access Facebook via their mobile; limited screen space means ads on this platform don’t fetch as much value. The App Centre is another push in driving revenue.
The App Center will showcase apps based on the quality scores that users give apps and other data Facebook collects, such as how often and how long people use apps. Each user will see a different, customized version of the App Center, rather than one standard version of the App Center.
The news comes ahead of its IPO, forecast for the 18th of this month and predicted to value Facebook between $70-90bn.
Official figures show that out of the site’s 900 million subscribers the monthly mobile usage grew to 488 million in March, up from 425 million in December 2011.
However increased daily users have not equaled more revenue. On Wednesday in an amended IPO filing the company admitted that more mobile users “may negatively affect” financial results as this space is far more limited.
Aside from selling ad space, Facebook makes revenue from when users purchase goods through its social apps, like Farmville. Reuters reports that the company claims that 200 million of the apps available on Facebook, have over 100 million subscribers.
http://www.facebook.com/AppStore
