October 29, 2008, 10:24 AM — A week after the launch of T-Mobile's G1 and still no official Facebook app for Android. What gives? The bad news is it doesn't look like Facebook fans will get one anytime soon. That's because of a longstanding rivalry between Google and Facebook.
Don't worry there is a glimmer of hope for those new G1 owners that crave access to Facebook. There is a good chance someone else will develop a third-party Android Facebook app.
In fact Google or any other third parties are free to use the Facebook platform. Facebook provides developers the all important technical specifications to create apps that link to Facebook - and that could include an Android Facebook app. So it's likely that in the coming months either Google itself or a different company will launch an application to enable users to access the more than 100 million users of Facebook.
Meanwhile, for those who want to access Facebook through their brand new T-Mobile G1, the iPhone version of the website seems to work quite well on Android.
Faceoff: Android vs. Facebook
With sources at Facebook calling Android "vaporware" and stating that "Android sucks, it doesn't matter" it is no wonder the popular social network is not buying into the Android buzz. Here's how it all started:
- Facebook strikes advertising deal with Microsoft
- Google provides advertising to Facebook's biggest rival, MySpace
- Google launches Orkut (social network to compete with Facebook)
- Facebook blocks Google Friend Connect to keep all traffic on its own domain
- Google launches OpenSocial, implementing APIs from all of Facebook's competitor social networks.
What Others Have Done So Far
Facebook apps for different platforms are two-faced so far. While the iPhone version was developed internally, Research In Motion had to develop its own version for Blackberry, but Facebook engineers reportedly helped it. Meanwhile, on the Google side of things, MySpace, Facebook's biggest rival, has already launched its Android version of its service.
While users will have to wait for a proper Facebook app for Android, other smaller social networks could gain on the Google/Facebook rivalry by launching their network's apps faster and gain in popularity.
Would you quit Facebook over your Android phone?
