Facebook in mobile push

IF all things go according to plan, up to 90 per cent of Facebook users will access the popular social-networking site via mobile devices, a senior company executive said.

But unlike Skype the company has no immediate plans for a "Facebook phone".

Co-developed with Chinese manufacturer Amoi, the Skype mobile phone was first launched locally on the 3 Mobile network.

The mobile space is high on its agenda and Facebook has other go-to-market strategies, according to Facebook Mobile director Henri Moissinac.

Over the past six months Facebook has doubled the number of users accessing the site from mobile devices to 16 million unique users a month.

However this was still a fraction of the 120 million active unique visitors who visit the website monthly, Mr Moissinac said.

"Eventually we would like to have between 80 and 90 per cent of our users as mobile users," he said. No timeframe was provided on when the target could be achieved.

The company realises that to succeed in the mobile arena, it will have to rely heavily on network operators and handset manufacturers.

"The speed of the network and speed at which handsets can process data are controlled by handset manufacturers and operators. So effectively they are the main drivers,” Mr Moissinac said.

"But people like us, we can speak to that, we can help. That's why our mobile engineering team is working with partners so we can effectively work on the handset, the speed of experience and also amount of data required to make that work.''

Facebook collaborated with handset developer INQ (pronounced ink) mobile, owned by telecommunications company Hutchison-Whampoa, to develop a Facebook client for its smartphone, INQ1.

The application can be accessed directly from the phone’s home screen as opposed to a mobile web browser.

INQ managing director Frank Meehan described the INQ1 is a smartphone for the masses.

"Android, iPhone, BlackBerry are really great, but they're all on high-end phones and all require very high end chips to run,'' Mr Meehan said. "The vendor market has forgotten its roots, which is to make communication better for everybody.''

INQ has similar applications for Microsoft Live Messenger, Skype, email, RSS feeds and widgets. It has an "online presence" contacts directory which displays Facebook friends' status and profile pictures.

The INQ1 is also available on Hutchison's 3 Mobile.