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Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) plans to bring select features of its new Home launcher Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android to its mobile social networking app for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS.

Facebook Home, which rolled out late last week, is an alternative homescreen promising users more immediate and efficient access to Android applications and social media updates, deeply integrating the social networking platform into the mobile user experience. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said the company will not be directly porting Facebook Home to iOS, but some of its features will be coming to Apple devices in the near future.

"Home is based on the openness of Android. It allows users to customize in ways that Apple does not," Sandberg said. "We are going to release a new version [of our mobile app] on iOS, very soon… You will see some of the features from Home will be launched with Apple."

Sandberg stressed that iOS device owners should not expect the same experience as their Android counterparts, however. "You cannot develop on Apple with the same openness as you can on Android," she explained, but added "We are going to continue to develop for both."

Apple declined to comment.

Sandberg's comments follow a day after Facebook director of product Adam Mosseri told Bloomberg the social network has shown Home to both Apple and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) executives. "We're just in an ongoing conversation," Mosseri said. "It may or may not be Home. We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it's not called Home, it's called something else."

Sources inside Facebook told The Next Web the social network is not in Home talks with either Apple or Microsoft, but that Facebook maintains healthy relationships with both firms. Sandberg did not comment on Facebook's plans to extend Home or some of its components to Windows Phone.

As Sandberg pointed out, Apple is highly unlikely to cede the kind of control Home has claimed on Android. At the same time, Microsoft has been publicly critical of the Home concept, with corporate vice president of corporate communications Frank X. Shaw calling the app "remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago."

Writing on the Official Microsoft Blog soon after Facebook unveiled Home, Shaw said Microsoft built Windows Phone in 2011 by following the mantra "Put People First," bringing content to the homescreen and integrating different messaging services into one conversation--two key selling points of Facebook Home. "Millions of Windows Phone owners have already discovered how great a phone can be when it's designed this way, and they aren't shy about telling their friends," Shaw writes. "Naturally, some of those friends have been pretty frustrated that they haven't been able to get a 'People First' experience on their devices. So, we understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it. But as Android owners know, that platform is complicated enough without adding another skin built around another metaphor, on top of what is already a custom variant of the OS."

Facebook now boasts more than 680 million mobile monthly active users across all platforms. Android users appear unimpressed with Home, however: Four days after the app went live on Google Play, it currently carries an average rating of just 2.3 stars out of five, with close to half of all user reviews slapping it with a rating of just one star.

For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal article
- read this Next Web article
- read this Bloomberg article

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2. Mozilla's Firefox OS launches remain on track

By Phil Goldstein

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3. Google, Millennial Media executives debate future of mobile advertising

NEW YORK--Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs said the company's Firefox OS-based smartphones will be available in June in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela, before coming to 11 more countries this year.

Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs (right) discusses Firefox OS.

However, shortly after Kovacs' appearance at the AllThingsD's D: Dive Into Mobile conference here, a Mozilla spokesperson said that Kovacs misspoke.

"As Mozilla announced on February 24th, the initial countries where Firefox OS devices will be available to consumers are Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela," the spokesperson said. "Exact launch timing is decided by and dependent on our partners."

It's unclear why Mozilla sought to retract Kovacs' statements. The company said it is contacting every media outlet that reported what Kovacs said in order to correct what they said were misstatements by Kovacs.

During his appearance Kovacs touched on many of the same points he made at Mobile World Congress in February, and he said that Firefox OS is geared for the next 2 billion people who will come online in the developing world. "Innovation happens on a local level," he said, noting that people in Brazil will develop apps and services specifically for Brazil. "People will not get all their experiences from one company or two," he said, referring to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG).

Kovacs said that consumers in emerging markets want more choice in their mobile experiences. Even though Apple's iOS and Google's Android have hundreds of thousands of apps, he said "there are nowhere near as many experiences [we can enable] if we unlock the ecosystem."

Mozilla has said the platform includes standard phone features like messaging, email and camera as well as built-in cost controls, social features with Facebook and Twitter, location-based services and the Firefox Web browser. In addition, it will let consumers discover one-time use and downloadable apps, Firefox Marketplace and other features. Users can enter any search term and instantly create a one-time use or downloadable app. Firefox OS also offers a deep contextual search that will let users search both within apps and on the Web at the same time. Firefox's Marketplace will also enable direct operator billing, and developers will be able to deliver apps directly to consumers as well.

Kovacs acknowledged that Mozilla is just starting to make the open Web the driving force of mobile innovation. "This is a 'Version 1' product," he said. "Our whole mission is to stimulate the ecosystem, just as we did with the desktop."

One of the key features of Firefox OS is that it has drawn support from global operators. Mozilla said 17 operators have so far committed to launching Firefox OS devices, including Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Whampoa's Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom. As for handsets, Mozilla said that TCL's Alcatel brand, LG Electronics and ZTE will build the first Firefox OS devices, with Huawei to follow later this year. More handset makers will likely be added in the future. All of the devices will run on Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processors.

Kovacs said that despite the perception that Firefox is designed to give more control back to operators, the devices are not locked to a particular carrier's experience. "Anybody can take it and do what they want," he said, noting that Mozilla ultimately controls the security and privacy standards of Firefox OS. However, he said users can remove or keep operator-sponsored apps and services.

Despite Mozilla's efforts to optimize the open Web, the common experience for mobile, he said "we haven't done a great job, frankly. I am expecting that someone will do an Apple on the whole browsing experience and will change the paradigm for how to explore content."

Kovacs said last week he will step down from his position later this year, a position he has held since 2010. The company said it has begun a search for a replacement CEO. Concurrent with the news, Mozilla announced a number of management movements including the appointment of Li Gong as Mozilla's senior vice president of mobile devices, where he will help oversee the progress of the Firefox OS.

"I learned in college, you never want to stay at the party for too long," he said. He said when he came into the CEO position it was his job to grow the company and move into mobile. Kovacs said that the company has added hundreds of employees over the last few years and has sped up how often it updates the Firefox browser. "It was just time for me to move onto other things," he said.

Read more about: Android, Firefox OS, Apple
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By Phil Goldstein

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4. YouTube for iOS adds live video streaming, My Subscriptions uploads

NEW YORK--Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is working on ways to enhance how mobile advertisers can track the effectiveness of their mobile ads, even as consumers move between mobile devices and desktop computers, according to a senior Google executive.

Jason Spero, head of global mobile solutions at Google, speaking here at AllThingsD's D: Dive Into Mobile conference, said Google and other companies that serve mobile ads need to do a better job of tracking how consumers use mobile ads to buy goods in the physical world, where a lot of the value of mobile ads is actually realized.

"Until you can show [that tracking connection], they're not going to pay as much for it," he said. "We're investing heavily in helping people track the value."

"Fundamentally we need to be able to track that because that's where the value is created," he added.

Spero noted that in February Google overhauled its AdWords platform to reach consumers across all device screens. The revamp was designed not only to increase Google's mobile ad revenue but also to help merchants manage integrated campaigns stretching across multiple connected devices, shaped by contextual factors like location, time of day and device type. Key features include bid adjustments for managing spending across devices, locations and time of day, as well as context-optimized promotions and measurement tools to help marketers compare and contrast interactions on different devices and platforms.

Spero said that in terms of being able to track how mobile ads are performing and how they should be targeted, mobile advertisers should not assume that smartphone or tablet users are on the go. He said people also use tablets in cafes and their smartphones on their couches, which means they are using mobile devices abut are not necessarily walking around. Therefore, he said, Google is focused on "putting some other contexts ahead of form factor."

AdWords is Google's primary advertising product and its chief source of revenue. Average cost-per-click, which measures the price advertisers pay the company, fell 6 percent year-over-year during the fourth quarter of 2012, following on the heels of double-digit declines during the previous three quarters; analysts have blamed the decline on the shift to mobile, where ad rates still lag behind the desktop.

Mollie Spilman, executive vice president of global sales and marketing at Millennial Media (NYSE:MM), said mobile ad buyers "are asking for specificity" in how their campaigns are targeted. She said that National Geographic launched a campaign that involved launching ads on tablets at the same time a show about Abraham Lincoln was airing.

Spilma said ad buyers are "are allocating more and more of their budgets to mobile" but added that it is still a "new medium. A new medium makes people not want to go in 100 percent."

For more:
- see this AllThingsD article

Read more about: Millennial Media
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By Jason Ankeny

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5. Skype for Windows Phone 8 exits beta, Messenger notifications now on by default

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) rolled out an updated version of its YouTube video application for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS, highlighted by support for live streaming.

YouTube for iOS 1.3 enables iPhone and iPad owners to view live events ranging from performing arts to sports to government sessions. For example, this past weekend YouTube streamed the Coachella music festival live from Indio, Calif.

Also new in YouTube for iOS 1.3: Uploads from subscriptions via the app's "My Subscriptions" feed, video queuing for TV playback, One Channel branding for video creator channels and a number of stability and performance improvements.

The latest update follows roughly six weeks after Google unveiled YouTube for iOS 1.2.1, which enables users to find videos on their mobile device, then send the content to their smart TV with the click of a button. The video-sharing functionality--which recalls similar capabilities integrated into Apple's own AirPlay streaming media platform--first surfaced last fall in the YouTube app for Google's own Android mobile operating system.

Google launched the ad-supported YouTube app in Sept. 2012 after Apple eliminated preloaded YouTube support with the release of its iOS 6 operating system. Mobile metrics firm Onavo reported that within weeks of its release, the YouTube app was installed on about 20 percent of all iPhones across the U.S., and by the end of December, that number increased to 44.5 percent.

For more:
- read this CNet article

Read more about: Google, YouTube
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By Jason Ankeny

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