Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Facebook finally unveils Apple iPad app

After months of anticipation, Facebook finally released its first app for the iPad

After months of anticipation, Facebook finally released its first app for the iPad.

The social network announced on Monday that iPad users finally will have a Facebook app optimized specifically for their device. Until today, more than a year and a half since the iPad was unveiled, iPad users only had what basically was an iPhone app running on their Apple tablet.

"Many of you have been asking about Facebook for iPad. Today's it's finally here," Leon Dubinsky, a Facebook mobile engineer, wrote in a blog post. "With the iPad app, you get the full Facebook experience right at your fingertips.... Photos really shine on the iPad. They're bigger and easy to flip through, like a real photo album."

Facebook for iPad, which is available in the Apple App Store, has a left-hand menu for users' games, apps, groups and lists. And messages and notifications are at the top of every screen.

Dubinsky noted in his blog post that the app also has several new features. Users now can chat with their friends right from their iPad, and they also can play games on Facebook in full-screen mode. He added that users now can record HD video and stream to Airplay devices.

There was a lot of speculation about an iPad app in June when reports began to hit the Internet that Facebook was close to releasing one built specifically for the iPad. And while users were excited to get a look at the new app, there were a lot of questions about why it has taken Facebook so long to create it.

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with Yankee Group at the time, said last summer the reason for the delay was a mystery.

"Facebook has had an app that could run on the iPad, but it's lame," he said in a previous interview. "It wasn't developed for the iPad -- it's an iPhone app running on the iPad. There is nothing iPad-unique about it."

Kerravala now is with ZK Research.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Apple, etwork, Facebook, Yankee Group
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Facebook, internet, Internet-based applications and services, mobile, mobile applications, social media
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Oracle x86 Rack Servers Optimized for Rapid Deployments and Operational Efficiency
    Business-critical and mission-critical workloads — demanding applications and databases — require stable and secure environments. When these types of workloads are deployed on x86 servers, the need to ensure business continuity, maximum uptime, and consistent processing means that IT managers and business unit managers are looking at enterprise x86 servers in a new way: They realize that the business depends on these servers and that x86 server platforms for the enterprise are no longer expendable, as they might have been when servers were dedicated to a single application — or when they were deployed as small Web servers that could be easily taken offline and replaced.
    Learn more »
  • Case Study: HJ Heinz
    Heinz has trusted Sophos to protect its desktop users and email systems from malware and spam for many years. As part of its multi-tier approach to IT security, the company needed more robust protection against web-based threats and the use of unauthorised applications.
    Learn more »
  • Securing SOA and Web Services with Oracle Enterprise Gateway
    Companies worldwide are actively deploying service-oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructures using web services, both in intranet and extranet environments. While web services offer many advantages over traditional alternatives (e.g., distributed objects or custom software), deploying networks of interconnected web services still presents key challenges, especially in terms of security and management.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments