While most web companies stare drooling at framed photos of the iPhone on office walls, a few pay attention to the rest of the population. Today, Facebook is one of those companies.
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Wednesday, Facebook announced a new mobile app for regular, old feature phones – no “smarts” required. Instead of working on just a handful of devices, which is the case with iPhone or Android apps, this new app will run on more than 2,500 phones including Nokia, Sony, LG and others. (You mean a technology that is widely distributed and accessible for all? Yes, exactly.)
Normally, feature phone users turn to Facebook’s mobile site m.facebook.com, which if you’ve ever seen it, isn’t exactly a pretty face of the world’s leading social network. In partnership with app developers Snaptu, the Facebook For Feature Phones App will come with the look and feel of a smartphone app with home screen dashboard and faster scrolling photos and updates – a hiccup of its mobile site.
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The app is on pace with the company’s promise of a mobile push for 2011, and to lure new users, Facebook has partnered with 14 international mobile operators to offer free data access to the app for the first 90 days of use.