Facebook has launched its first engineering centre outside the US this week, setting up an office in London to develop the firm’s mobile experience.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg has stressed numerous times that his site doesn’t generate as much revenue via mobile channels as it perhaps should, especially given the amount of mobile device users that have an account.
To combat this, a team of around 20 engineers will aim to improve the Facebook experience for smartphone and tablet users – along with companies investing in Facebook marketing – at the network’s new London headquarters.
Led by Philip Su, formally the lead engineer for Facebook video calling, the team will also work on platform and machine learning products for the site. It’s thought that most of Mr Su’s team have been sourced locally and were put through their paces at a six-week ‘boot camp’ before being taken into consideration.
Other senior members of staff to be housed at the Covent Garden lab include developers of Facebook’s App Centre, Timeline and Ticker.
The company’s vice-president of engineering, Mike Schroepfer, said that London is “rapidly emerging as a global technology hub”, providing access to the best engineers and a place where other talented engineers would be willing to relocate.
The London team will develop products to improve the Facebook experience on mobile devices and perform work on the social network’s platform, Schroepfer said.
Developing mobile products is a priority for Facebook. The social network crossed the billion threshold this month, but it has struggled to make money from the growing numbers of people accessing its services on smartphones.
British finance minister George Osborne, who attended the opening in Covent Garden, central London, said that Facebook’s move highlighted the attractiveness of the city for technology businesses.
“I hope it also reflects something of the work we have done as a government over the last couple of years to make this a go-to place for technology businesses,” he added.
Osborne said the government had taken a range of measures including better computer science teaching, the expansion of superfast broadband and the improved availability of government data to apps developers.
