If the recent report from PatentlyApple is true, Apple might be planning to offer built-in Facebook capabilities as part of iPhone OS 4.0. If you are a Facebook and iPhone lover, that’s definitely a great news for you. The rumors reveal that Apple is planning a tight integration between Facebook and iPhone – syncing events and contacts. For a user, it would save the hassle of having to install the Facebook for iPhone application on their phone in order to access the popular social networking portal.
These rumors reaffirm the growing importance of social networking for the current generation of smartphones. Social-Networking friendly phones such as Motorola Cliq and HTC Desire are very popular amongst the young generation. Besides Facebook, most vendors are concentrating on integrating with other leading social networks including Twitter and Myspace.
The rumored integration between iPhone OS and Facebook is based on ‘SocialKitInternal.framework’, a new iPhone framework which could presumably be extended for Twitter and Myspace integration as well. While there is little doubt that the iPhone is the world’s leading smartphone, its social-networking capabilities leave a lot to be desired. Such a framework will help Apple to tighten the screws to offer native support for popular social networks.
Speculation is rife that Apple might also be planning to integrate Facebook Connect directly into iPhone OS so that developers can easily build new social features for their apps. Facebook already offers a feature that lets you sync your contacts’ Facebook photos with your iPhone, so you can see their Facebook profile picture when they’re calling. Facebook is the world’s most popular social network and the iPhone is world’s most popular smartphone, therefore it is hardly surprising that Facebook is one of the most popular iPhone apps in the world. Therefore, closer iPhone-Facebook integration makes perfect sense. The prospects of running native Facebook on my iPad is already killing me with excitement.
I’m eagerly looking forward to iPhone OS 4.0 and the native Facebook capabilities. I just hope that Apple and Facebook have sorted out the privacy issues in order to avoid any more embarrassment for the latter. After all, we’ve had enough of Facebook and privacy. What do you think?
[Images via PatentlyApple]
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