Most anyone currently wielding an iPhone or iPod touch plus the 2.0software update today is well aware of the volume of convenient appsmade themselves available upon Apple’s (somewhat tarnished)
App Storelaunch on July 11.In the social networking department,the mostpopular comes,perhaps predictably,by way of Facebook.Among the topfree applications listed today,it sits in ninth place,just ahead ofAIM.
Of course,we’ve already spoken about the availability of Facebookfor iPhone,both in Web-based and native download form.When I
sized it upagainst its primary competition in the market,MySpace,it managed toconvince me to give it a first-place start to MySpace’s own iPhoneapplication,which,while well-crafted and visually impressive in itsown right,was a little too stuffy for my taste.(For perspective,theMySpace Mobile iPhone application currently sits at #15among Apple’sApp Store’s top free downloads.)
As of last evening,however,when Facebook introduced an update toits application,I must say I really can’t imagine how I had come tothink so highly version 1.0.Honestly.Version 1.1is clearly whatshould have been there at day one.I mean,really.To think Iconsidered 1.0a treat….
Thebest way to describe the 1.1update is that it is pretty mucheverything what Facebook amounts to without third-party applications.The important stuff,anyway.Yes,Status updates are there,just asthey were for the debut of the App Store.And the mobile
Facebook Chatfeature was and remains a nifty item to have in your hand.You couldalso have looked at shortened versions of friends’profiles and emailedback and forth among your contacts.Still,it is only now that theapplication comes full circle.How so?Pretty simple,actually.
Now there are options to view your wall and the walls of all yourpals.And write to them.You can also view users’photo libraries (asyou’ve been able via
the website served to iPhone ownersfor many months already).
These may seem like such basic additions.Sort of “duh,why not?”But though they are what comprise the core of what makes Facebook sucha popular social platform,they weren’t in evidence the first timearound.Facebook has become one of the preeminent photo hosts on theWeb,and its users’activity on their personal walls and mini-feeds isso extensive,yet Facebook decided to keep them out ‘til the download’ssecond week in play.
It’s only sensible that these options be available in an application built for a device often described as the benchmark for
smartsmartphone computing.In fact,looking back now,it seems a bit bizarre to think the biggest functions of 1.1were absent 1.0.
