This article was published on April 16, 2013

Source: Facebook not in discussions with Apple, Microsoft to port Home to their platforms [Update]


Source: Facebook not in discussions with Apple, Microsoft to port Home to their platforms [Update]

Update: According to a source inside Facebook familiar with the discussions, the social networking company is not in talks with Apple or Microsoft, contrary to what Bloomberg has reported earlier. We’ve been told that while the company has good relationships with both Apple and Microsoft, right now no discussions have taken place to bring Home to those platforms.

Facebook is in talks with both Apple and Microsoft about the possibility of porting its new Home Android launcher to their respective platforms, Bloomberg reports.

Facebook director of product Adam Mosseri mentioned the discussions to Bloomberg, while noting that no formal agreement has been made.

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“We’ve shown them what we’ve built and we’re just in an ongoing conversation,” he said in an interview.

Mosseri added that the product might not be called Home if it comes to iOS.

“We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen,” he said.

Facebook Home arrived on Google Play last Friday. At launch, the app is only available in the US and on select devices. Initial user reviews of the application were less than enthusiastic, as almost half awarded it one star. That trend continued through the weekend. As of Monday afternoon (PDT), it had 1,975 one-star reviews out of 4,154 total ratings.

Last Friday also marked the release of the HTC First, a smartphone that comes pre-loaded with Facebook Home.

Shortly after Home was unveiled last month, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told Fortune:

We’d love to offer this on iPhone, and we just can’t today, and we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want.

Zuckerberg added that Facebook has a “good relationship” with Apple. The two companies teamed up last year to add deep integration of Facebook into iOS  6.

Image credit: Getty Images

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