
Facebook to Introduce Three Tier App System  - colinplamondon
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/23/its-facebook-day-say-hello-to-the-three-tier-app-system/
======
jgrahamc
The TFA:

"Facebook desperately wants to find a way to help application developers make
money beyond advertising, and the iPhone App Store has shown that people are
willing to pay for quality applications."

Praise be to the iPhone AppStore! No one had thought of charging for
applications before. Who knew that people would pay for software?

~~~
unalone
I still don't think it's likely that people are willing to pay for Facebook
applications. Facebook is too limited. It doesn't give you mobile
opportunities, not like the iPhone does. It really doesn't give you anything
new that you can't find on other sites. Facebook is grasping at straws.

~~~
anewaccountname
People are already willing to pay facebook to give a "panties" icon to another
member of facebook--I don't think it is nearly the stretch you are claiming it
is that they might also be willing to pay for apps.

------
geuis
Who in the hell cares what Facebook does anymore? Are we going to see a repeat
of the last year, where every monkey in a marketing department wants to jump
on the Facebook App bandwagon again? Sorry, but we've had a year of biting
vampires, useless applications, and too much hype.

How much investor money has to be poured down a hole before people will start
building businesses that have actual value?

I personally couldn't care less about Facebook/Myspace/<insert name of social
network> anymore. I doubt I'm alone.

~~~
akd
Imagine the endgame, where web apps handle all user accounts, collaboration
features, sharing, and permissions through Facebook. It's not this year or
next year, but Facebook could become the equivalent of what Microsoft Windows
is on the desktop (although much less valuable, since the Web is a more
anarchic environment than the desktop).

------
chaostheory
I think this blog post should be titled differently. While it has interesting
info, it barely mentions any details about the tier system that's advertised
in the title.

------
danhak
The case for a Facebook app store based on the iPhone analogy is severely
flawed. Nobody would pay for a Facebook application.

1) iPhone users pay a small fortune to buy and use their devices. This selects
for people with relatively high disposable income. Facebook profiles are free.

2) The iPhone is a platform in a way that is analogous with a computer.
Facebook isn't. (e.g. there is a Facebook application for the iPhone. There is
no iPhone application for Facebook).

------
jeffreyjflim
a somewhat late response to all the application-tire/dread, perhaps?

~~~
unalone
Facebook innovates quickly, polishes late. Look at how they handled the
Newsfeed. It's the same thing here. Though judging from the current redesign,
it would seem they're running out of ideas.

------
colinplamondon
This could be great if implemented well- kill off the Vampires and Werewolves
insanity and promote legitimately useful applications. We'll see.

------
redorb
equally good and bad, now your app is dependent on facebooks grace, i would
rather see a quality score type system, where its a install to unistall ratio.
85 percent and above and you start getting warnings etc..

~~~
sspencer
Judging by the number of zombie/pirate/vampire/werewolf invites I get, I think
the majority of people don't give a shit about the usefulness of the apps.
Even if 95% install FacebookCthulu, I still don't care.

In fact, as was mentioned before, I don't think I care about Facebook apps at
all. The only one I installed was iLike, back when it was pretty much the only
app available. I installed it solely because I liked the aesthetic of having
all the images of all the bands I like tiled in a square. Facebook apps are a
dead platform now, if they were ever even alive to begin with.

