NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the enduring questions of the technology world: “When will iPad users get their very own Facebook app?”
That question was answered Monday as Facebook released an updated version of its iPhone application, one that's also designed to fill out the iPad's larger screen.
The lack of an iPad app for the world's most popular social network has confounded users ever since Apple launched its tablet computer a year and a half ago. Third-party developers have made money selling their own apps that show Facebook pages.
“We're releasing it now because it's done,” Bret Taylor, Facebook's chief technology officer, said in an interview Monday.
Two weeks ago, Facebook engineer Jeff Verkoeyen announced on his personal blog that he was leaving to take a job with Google and that the iPad app he had worked on was nearly complete in May. It was then “repeatedly delayed through the summer,” he said, without saying why.
Rumors have swirled that Apple and Facebook were in talks about deepening the integration of the social network into the system software of the iPhone and iPad. But Apple's updated system software, announced this summer, will feature integration with Twitter, another social networking service, rather than Facebook. That will make it easier to “tweet” from other applications besides Twitter's.
Like the previous Facebook app for the iPhone, the new “universal” iPhone and iPad app is free.
The updated Facebook app deals with one shortcoming of the old iPhone app, which didn't play well with apps developed for Facebook's website. They simply weren't available.
In the new iPhone and iPad app, some applications developed for Facebook will work.
<한글 기사>
페이스북, 아이패드용 앱 선보여
페이스북은 10일(현지시간) 애플의 아이패드를 위한 애플리케이션을 선보였다고 밝혔다.
페이스북의 모바일 담당 엔지니어 리온 두빈스키는 이날 자사 블로그를 통해"
많은 고객이 아이패드용 페이스북 애플리케이션을 만들어 달라는 요청을 했다"면서 "오늘부터 아이패드에서 페이스북을 완벽하게 사용할 수 있게 됐다"고 말했다,
아이패드용 페이스북 애플리케이션 출시는 애플이 아이패드를 출시한 지 1년6개 월 만이며, 이용자들은 이 애플리케이션을 통해 페이스북 상에서 친구와 채팅을 하고 게임을 즐길 수 있게 됐다.
8억명 이상의 가입자를 보유한 페이스북은 최근 스마트폰 이용자 확대 등을 감안해 모바일 시장에 대한 점유율을 높이기 위해 박차를 가하고 있다.
페이스북 소프트웨어 개발 엔지니어 루크 셔퍼드는 이와 관련해 "페이스북 가입 자 3억5천만명이 매달 모바일기기를 통해 페이스북에 접속하고 있다"고 말했다.
