However, the store, available at www.facebook.com/appcenter, is not a store in the true sense of the word. Instead, it’s more like a list of “high-quality” apps available on Android and iOS, which Facebook wants you to discover. In case you suspect these apps require some sort of deep, or not-so-deep, Facebook integration, then you’d be right. Facebook plans to use the App Center to help users discover certain popular apps that have a Facebook share feature, and therefore increase the popularity of Facebook.
The more popular the apps, the more popular Facebook should become, and, in turn, the more popular future apps that make it to App Center would become. It’s a vicious circle, not that we’re thinking the App Center is a bad idea. So if you’re a developer and you want to see your app up there someday, you should make sure you include Facebook sharing features in it.
So far, only 600 apps and web apps are found in the App Center, but we expect that number to increase substantially in time, although I don’t think App Center will match Google Play or the App Store when it comes to available content. In fact, chances are that you’re already using some of those apps, or that you will be using some of the most popular apps that will be presented in App Center long before they become available in Facebook’s store.
It sounds awfully simply and it actually is. Facebook apparently wants to become the middlemen between developers and mobile device users, and while the idea may seem awfully unnecessary, I will remind you that Facebook has over 900 million users, with many of them using the social network on a smart mobile device. Therefore, the company can very well do whatever it pleases to try to boost its numbers and its quarterly earnings. After all, the stock must go back up and stay above IPO levels to keep investors happy.
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