At Microsoft’s Build 2013, its annual developers conference, the Bill Gates-founded software producer announced that an official Facebook app will be coming to Windows 8 devices. The move has many pundits thinking it’s about time, as Microsoft was notably an early investor in the largest social media network in the world. There’s been no word yet, though, on the approximate release date for the app.
Other striking additions to Microsoft’s app store for Windows 8 will be Flipboard and an NFL Fantasy Football app–burgeoning the partnership between Microsoft and the NFL also evidenced in the Xbox One.
Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said in a statement, “We aspire to not just create the best Windows applications possible, but the best version of Flipboard possible.”
Microsoft Windows 8 mobile devices, specifically tablets, have access to nearly 100,000 apps, a far shortcoming when compared to the mammoth app stores for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android as they both offer an arsenal stocked with upwards of 700,000 apps.
“As [CEO Steve] Ballmer notes, Microsoft believes that developers are doing great work on Windows 8 and that the number of apps ‘that are coming into the store is phenomenal.’ He did, however, single these three apps out, which makes sense, given that they are indeed marquee apps for Windows 8,” according to TechCrunch.
Facebook has been looking for a way to break into the mobile market for quite some time now, hoping to boost revenue through means other than advertising at the behest of its shareholders. In May, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg noted that approximately 20% of time spent on mobile devices is subsequently spent on Facebook, which was the primary reason for making an attempt, no matter how ill-fated, at a Facebook-intensive smartphone. The HTC First was an absolute bomb as AT&T proceeded to drop the price of 2-year contract from $99 to $0.99.
There’s been no word on an imminent release date for the Facebook App yet. Facebook and Microsoft have teamed up with a number of great innovations, notably by integrating Skype and Bing into Facebook chatting and search.
