Facebook has arguably cracked the Smartphone market with iPhone and Android apps and is now targeting the more run of the mill mobile phone. Facebook put out an announcement today that they will roll out a new low tech version of their website for older or less powerful handsets.
A blog post by program manager Mark Heynen said “The app provides a better Facebook experience for our most popular features, including an easier-to-navigate home screen, contact synchronization, and fast scrolling of photos and friend updates.”
The new joint venture between Facebook and Snaptu is optimised for over 2,500 mobile phones including manufacturers Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Blackberry and LG. Another interesting part of the project is that Facebook has penned deals in parts of Canada, Brazil, Romania and Hong Kong to allow free data charges for the site in the first 30 days.
In total 14 carriers launched today: Dialog (Sri Lanka), Life (Ukraine), Play (Poland), StarhHub (Singapore), STC (Saudi Arabia), Three (Hong Kong), Tunisiana (Tunisia), Viva (Dominican Republic) and Vodafone (Romania). A further five will be launching soon and Facebook says they will be working on further deals for the future.
The new (well new low tech) mobile Facebook can be accessed at 0.facebook.com.
What do you think about the new project?
