New Home app now in Canada
Facebook program turns smartphones into social network,
Facebook Inc.’s new Home is now in Canada.
On Tuesday, the world’s largest social network announced that its new Home service will be made available to Canadians that day.
Facebook unveiled Home earlier this month at an event at its Silicon Valley headquarters, and the service was initially only available to users in the United States.
Canadians can download Facebook Home from the Google Play online marketplace.
When downloaded to select smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android software, Home is designed to place Facebook services at the centre of the user’s mobile experience, essentially turning the device into a “Facebook phone.”
At the Home unveiling, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the new software was created with the intention of organizing a smartphone around people, rather than applications.
Instead of being greeted by a wall of applications when users turn on their smartphones, Home replaces both the Android lock screen and home screen with images, status updates and notifications from Facebook friends.
Users can comment on or Like stories without having to open the Facebook for Android app, which Facebook hopes will enable users to dip into their feeds more often.
Facebook has also partnered with Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. to create a new device specifically optimized for Facebook Home, dubbed the “HTC First.” While the device is now available through AT&T Inc. in the U.S., there has been no announcement about when the HTC First will come to Canada.
A separate version of Facebook Home designed for tablets is due to launch later this year.
When downloaded to select smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android software, Home is designed to place Facebook services at the centre of the user’s mobile experience, essentially turning the device into a ‘Facebook phone.’
Facebook Home is currently only available for download on a handful of Android devices, including HTC’s One and One X, and Samsung Electronics Ltd.’s Galaxy S3, S4 and Note II devices.
However, on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Facebook is in talks with Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other smartphone makers about creating a version of Home for nonAndroid devices.
Adam Mosseri, director of product at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook, said talks are ongoing with Apple and Microsoft and nothing has been finalized.
“We’ve shown them what we’ve built and we’re just in an ongoing conversation.”