Because of this, Facebook has the potential to develop a more accurate app recommendation engine and solve the problem of app discovery. If Facebook can make their platform more merit-based than the capricious Apple App Store, both users and developers will flock to them.
And this isn't even considering Facebook's social graph. Not only could Facebook recommend apps based on your demographics + interests, it could also recommend them to you based on how much you previously liked the games that some of your OTHER friends liked. Things like this could add a whole new dimension to app discovery - all completely exclusive to the Facebook platform.
How bad is the ratings spam problem? (I'm not a mobile app developer)
Don't Apple and Google require a credit card to have an account, which means there's at least some barrier to making accounts to spam? They also have data on if a user actually downloaded an app they're rating, if they've made many ratings before or if this is a brand new account, etc. Meanwhile, there are already "Like" farms that you can pay to boost like counts on Facebook for your content.
It seems like if there's motivation to spam ratings, Facebook won't have a great advantage over the problem.
Amazon distinguishes the reviews from people who actually bought the item they are reviewing from other reviews, I generally read only those. Probably Apple and Google could do the same, might help them a bit in reducing comment spam
Or is this just a showcase for Facebook enabled applications (native & web.)
This would lead me to believe it is going to run like some existing iOS apps, such as Bejeweled 2. If you click that menu item from the Facebook iOS app, it will launch the Bejeweled application instead of running inside any FB container.
Also wondering what Google will think of the FB Android app helping users side-step the Chrome store or whatever it's called.
Think it's time for FB to get a device of their own ;-)
Google: Android Marketplace
Facebook: App Center
If you take all combinations of similes for "App" and "Store/Market/Center/Hub" and trademark all of them, I wonder if some random company could become a trademark troll.
And Apple went after them for trademark infringement, so we already have our trademark troll.
In contrast, one can hold patents without making or doing anything (including licensing the patents).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effect
"The inner-platform effect is the tendency of software architects to create a system so customizable as to become a replica, and often a poor replica, of the software development platform they are using."
I wonder if they'll allow apps where Facebook Login is just one authentication option, like Draw Something. I'm guessing not for the little guys.
These apps are eligible for the App Center:
An app on Facebook.com in a canvas page A mobile app built for the web, iOS or Android that uses Facebook Login A website that uses Facebook Login and has an immediately logged-in, personalized experience (see App Quality for more info) An App for Pages built to manage or enhance other companies’ Facebook Pages
I guess they couldn't agree legals, but all we have is speculation.
Wonder what this means for the App Center running on iOS?
> 2.7 Apps that download code in any way or form will be rejected. > 2.8 Apps that install or launch other executable code will be rejected
I've been convinced for a couple years now that Facebook's next big thing will be a Facebook phone (likely based on Android, but partnering with a single manufacturer).
Is the consensus that Google Play has too many free apps and they need to move many more apps for the same $ volume? Should app stores be working to establish a more enterprise-y (Amazon and Microsoft) or sophisticated (Apple) culture so that customers expect to spend money?
How serious is the potential for one successful store to sell HTML/CSS/Javascript apps that start eating the other stores' lunches?
Is Facebook in good shape because others' apps won't run directly in its domain? Or is it more vulnerable because it has so many vendors working against it to make "sticky" apps that could pull them away from the Facebook experience altogether?
Apple has done this extremely well with the iTunes cards, which has made people more inclined to pay for apps.
I think the big question is - what happens for paid apps? Will Facebook be asking for a cut of any referrals? Take Draw Something for instance, which is $1.99 (or free). I know Facebook gets benefit from people playing and using Facebook Connect, but they have essentially handed that store the sale. I would think they would want to monetize this, and will be interested to see how this plays out. I wouldn’t be surprised if agreements are in place - as it would really be of mutual benefit.
This is the beginning of the end for Zynga. Quality will now drive users to new games, not news feed spam and who has the biggest userbase to promote to or the biggest marketing budget.
Bravo Zuck! Though I suspect Zynga's declining growth led to this decision more than them wanting to level the playing field.
