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.