By SOMINI SENGUPTA | New York Times – 4 hours ago
MENLO PARK, Calif. — Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, said the company has developed new software to showcase the social network on mobile devices powered by Google’s Android operating system.
“Today our phones are designed around apps, not people,” said Mr. Zuckerberg at a news conference at Facebook’s headquarters. “We want to flip that around.”
Home converts the Facebook news feed into the home screen on the user’s phone. Pictures take up most of the real estate, with each news feed entry scrolling by like a slide show. Messages and notifications pop up over the home page. To “like” something on the newsfeed requires no more than a double-tap. Facebook apps are within easy reach, making the phone essentially synonymous with the Facebook ecosystem.
The company will not show ads immediately on the phone home screen, which Facebook is calling Cover Feed, but it is very likely to do so in the future.
The first phone with the new package installed will be made by HTC and be sold in the United States with AT&T service for about $100, starting April 12. Users of some other HTC and Samsung Android phones will also be able to download the software starting on that day, with Facebook planning to roll it out more broadly to other Android devices in the coming months.
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