Recent Facebook business practices may keep some mobile developers un-interested in Facebook’s offer to join them in developing new apps
Facebook has a mobile developers event coming up that may be inspiring some but the way Facebook has been conducting business as of recent, it may not be an event many developers take interest in.
On April 18 in New York, Facebook will host Mobile DevCon. A conference that will give mobile developers an opportunity to hear from some of Facebook’s engineers and product managers. The event will also take place in London on May 2, followed by Korea on May 7.
It’s no secret that Facebook is interested in getting even 3rd party developers to build the best apps possible for them so that both Facebook and the developer profit. Zynga is one of those success stories. If you’re not familiar with who they are, perhaps the word “Farmville” will ring a bell. Zynga has since taken off in numerous direction since its initial Facebook success and the stock is even up almost 60% on the year, much to do to with their expansion into online gambling and other areas. Facebook is now interested in particular apps though. Apps they are calling “lifestyle” apps. Facebook wants to work closely with 3rd party developers to create these “Lifestyle” apps that will focus on things like book sharing, movie sharing personal training progress and the like, according to AllThingsD.
Facebook might run into some negative feedback from potential developers though.
A Reuters report by Gerry Shih put it plainly. “Investor and entrepreneurs say that the unpredictable way that Facebook cuts off apps or suppresses their presence has made them increasingly wary of building companies that rely on Facebook. Some believe Facebook could eventually attract regulatory scrutiny because of its ability to make or break companies that rely on its billion-strong base of users.”
Some companies such as Viddy that once heavily relied on Facebook virality in order to push traffic through their apps or sites have seen nightmares occur to their business model, sent the company tossing out the CEO and more. Brian O’Malley, is a director at Viddy as well as a partner with venture capital firm Battery Ventures. According tot he Reuters report, he said that, “in hindsight, the boom in traffic from Facebook – and the stratospheric investor expectations that followed – set the company on the wrong track.”
Yandex is another prime example of a company that spent a lot of time developing a product, just to have Facebook cut them off in an instant – because Yandex’s product conflicted with Facebook goals. For more information see our January article, “Facebook Shutsout Yandex Wonder From Social Graph-like Functionality”
The point being made here is that Facebook can make or break a developers, and although there is supposedly guidance being given at this upcoming event for mobile developers, Facebook’s recent business practices may cause a few great mobile developers to remain at home working on projects that they are fairly certain they can continuously benefit from by directly submitting them to places such as Google Play and Apple iStore, versus the ever changing minds at Facebook that have the capability to either “make or break” a developer and their apps. Still, someone will be victor along the way, and that in itself is somewhat inspiring to aspiring developers.
Pre-registration for Facebook’s Mobile DevCon is now open.