Facebook App Center Goes Live: Free & Paid Apps

The most popular social networking site Facebook launches its app center today. This is after all the reports that Mark Zuckerberg’s company is planning to house all Facebook apps–both paid and free–in one place to make it easier for users to find, choose and eventually install the ones they like best. Facebook App Center, which is put in a different directory under the main domain (facebook.com/appcenter), will be Facebook’s another campaign strategy to boost revenue from advertisers as well as help app developers have a proper platform for their ingenuity.

If it sounds familiar to you, it is because we have already reported about Facebook App Center last month in which we said that it should be launched in May, we were wrong. Today it has gone live but still available for the web version of Facebook. However, the company already assured us that it will be brought to both iOS and Android mobile platforms to maximize its reach. And considering the fact that more and more people are resorting to browse the web and interact with their friends through smart phones, Facebook couldn’t waste the chance of doubling its reach.
Just like the typical Facebook functionality, users would be able to see what apps their friends have installed or games played. In other words, Facebook does not want to lose the essence of social interaction and behavior even when it comes to offering applications for users. However, while our basic tendency is to think that Facebook is posing as a competition to both Apple App Store and Google Play Store, that’s not the case. Facebook will not be competing these giant app centers from Apple and Google, instead it serves as a referrer for both.
For example, if you choose Instagram on Facebook App Center and click on the “Send to Mobile” button, you will be able to receive a notification on your Android or iOS device. Tapping on the notification will launch the mobile application and you will be brought to either Google Play Store or Apple App Store depending on the device you’re using. In case you already have Instagram on your smart phone, tapping on the notification will simply launch the app but not redirect you to the any app stores.
In the case of the Facebook web apps and games, you will be able to access them the way you did before. I would like to reiterate that this development concerns Facebook as a whole but not the apps developed by third parties. Thus, there will never be a change in any interface of the apps you’ve been using. Also, you will be able to access paid apps now that the app center is live; you couldn’t just do this before.
As much as I don’t want to share it, but the current number of apps found in the Facebook App Center amounts to just 600 and nothing more. This is because it is newly-launched and that migration hasn’t been done by other developers yet. Existing Facebook users need not to worry because everything will be just the same, the only difference is that there is now a place for developers to showcase their apps for free.