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"Facebook today unveiled &amp;quot;Home,&amp;quot;\u00A0a launcher for Android devices which\u00A0will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12.\u00A0According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Home launcher will help users turn their Android device into a social phone.\r\n\r\nOn launch, Home will work on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II. In the coming months, additional devices like the\u00A0HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S4 will be supported as well.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep_DSmSRwE&amp;amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;amp;amp;a\r\nFeatures of 'Home'\r\nHome's family of apps enables users to flip through stories, tap on content to Like it, and more. All the interactions are apparently &amp;quot;smooth,&amp;quot; with the feel of system software and not just a third-party app.\r\n\r\nAs soon as you turn on the phone, you see something called 'Cover Feed', a rich newsfeed which is almost reminiscent of Flipboard's Top Stories item.\u00A0Users will be able to view status updates overlaid atop images from their friends.\r\n\r\nInstead of a phone designed around apps first, Facebook claims that this new\u00A0system was designed around people. According to Zuckerberg, it feels different -- rightly so.\u00A0That said,\u00A0Facebook's Home also packs an\u00A0'App Launcher' which shows you some of your most commonly used apps.\r\n\r\n\r\nCommunicating with 'Chat Heads'\r\nMessaging services on mobile phones traditionally operate as isolated apps, but Zuckerberg believes that Home's messaging feature, curiously called 'Chat Heads', gives users a more integrated and personalized experience.\u00A0Facebook says that &amp;quot;you should be able to talk to your friends no matter where you are in your phone,&amp;quot; and not have to switch to a separate app.\r\n\r\nWhen you receive a Chat Head, it pops you right over the content you're viewing with a preview of the message and the sender's photo.\u00A0The company says that you can continue seamless conversations whenever you want to, and you\u00A0can swipe to close the conversation when done.\r\n\r\nWith this experience, it wasn't about what app or technology used to send the message, but that your friends are always with you.\u00A0Chat Heads works with Facebook Messages and SMS.\r\nToday it's all about Android\r\nAccording to Zuckerberg, Android is great because it's open and you don't need to fork it to handle the integrations. He went on to say that\u00A0the home screen of your phone is essentially its\u00A0soul, as it sets the\u00A0tone of your whole experience. This is the catalyst for Facebook building a launcher and not forking the entire OS.\r\n\r\n\r\nHow do you get 'Home'?\r\nIf you have the most recent Facebook and Messenger app installed on your Android phone, the company says that you'll be prompted to install Home from the Google Play Store. Facebook does not expect Home to be ready for tablet devices for several months.\r\n\r\nPost install, Facebook shares that 'Home' updates will be released with new features\u00A0every month.\r\nFacebook Partners and HTC First\r\nFacebook shared that it has support from quite a few companies, including AT&amp;amp;amp;T, HTC, Orange, Samsung, EE, Qualcomm, Huawei, Sony, ZTE, Lenovo, Alcatel Onetouch. AT&amp;amp;amp;T and HTC were highlighted in particular, as they've built some of the first phones to support 'Home.'\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nToday, HTC is unveiling the HTC First, the first (pardon the pun) phone to be preloaded with Home. The phone will be available only on AT&amp;amp;amp;T's LTE network\u00A0for $99.99 starting on April 12.\r\nFrom rumor to truth\r\nThe announcement of a new mobile platform comes after much rumor and speculation. Today's news comes just one week after the social networking company\u00A0released word to the press about it's &amp;quot;new home&amp;quot; on Android. Since that time, many people have discussed what Facebook would reveal.\r\n\r\nLeaked photos of the device appeared on the Internet with Gizmodo saying that phone manufacturer HTC will be developing the first &amp;quot;Facebook phone&amp;quot;. It was\u00A0also believed that the name of the phone will be the HTC First -- obviously we know that to be true now.\r\n\r\n\r\nMore mobile users\r\nWith this new mobile tool in its arsenal, Facebook could be in a position to capture more attention by its users on mobile devices. In Q4 2012, the company announced that it for the first time, it had more users accessing its service from mobile than desktop. Zuckerberg has even said that more money is earned from mobile where its users have a 70 percent likelihood of using it.\r\nZuckerberg phone denial\r\nToday's announcement is a bit of a reversal for Facebook. Last January, Zuckerberg denied that the company was in the process of building out a phone. The rumors recently picked up prior to the company's announcement of its Graph Search product. But if you look back at what the Facebook CEO said on the company's Q4 2013 earnings, he denied that a phone was in its game plan.\r\nWe're not going to build a phone. It's not the right strategy for us to build one integrated system...Let's say we sell 10 million units -- that would be 1 percent of users. Who cares for us?\r\nThis wasn't the first time that Zuckerberg has denied that Facebook would ever build a phone -- last September at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, he said publicly that going the phone route would be the &amp;quot;wrong strategy&amp;quot; for the company."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2013/04/04/facebook-introduces-home-a-launcher-for-android-devices-that-puts-people-ahead-of-apps/>