New York Time

Two 'New York Time' stories May 2012 - June 2012

Facebook launching “blazing fast”, rebuilt iPhone app next month

The New York Times’ Nick Bilton reported today that Facebook is planning on doing something about its “painfully slow” iPhone app. Citing unnamed FB engineers, the report claimed Facebook is going to release a new, “blazing fast” iOS app that is rebuilt “primarily using Objective-C”. However, according to Bilton who tested the unreleased app, it will be largely the same design as the current iOS app:

According to two Facebook engineers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak about unreleased products, Facebook has completely rebuilt its iOS application to optimize for one thing: speed… Many of the components of the current version of the Facebook app are built using HTML5, a Web-based programming language… The current version of the app is essentially an Objective-C shell with a Web browser inside. When it comes to speed, this is like putting the engine of a Smart Car in the body of a Ferrari…. Objective-C takes the opposite approach, taking full advantage of the hardware in the iPhone and then building most of the functionality directly into the application so it has to collect less information from the Web.

NYTimes: Facebook is hiring Apple iPhone hardware and software engineers to build its own phone

Stop us if you have heard this one before: Facebook is building its own smartphone, claim “employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans,” according to the New York Times.

The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said.

This is the third effort for Facebook, according to the report, with a HTC joint venture codenamed “Buffy” still in progress. HTC released a set of Android phones last year named “Salsa” and “Status” with deep Facebook integration on the way to hugely disappointing sales and earnings.

One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said; Mr. Zuckerberg asked about intricate details, including the types of chips used, he said. Another former Apple hardware engineer was recruited by a Facebook executive and was told about the company’s hardware explorations.

Apple was mere betas away from releasing iOS 4 with Facebook integration—the way Twitter is currently built into iOS. Something at the last minute, perhaps related to Facebook pulling support for Ping, made Apple pull the plug. Apple then integrated with Twitter a year later.

Facebook recently announced a cross-platform web App Center for mobile device application distribution that is aimed at building a smartphone platform, an updated Messenger app with read receipts, a Pages Manager, as well as a specialized photo application that replicated features of Instagram (which it purchased just weeks before).