During the press conference held by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and VP Erik Tseng announcing updates to the company’s iPhone app, the two executives revealed a key aspect of why there is no official Facebook app for the iPad yet. According to Mr. Zuckerberg, the iPad isn’t a mobile device.
To be more precise, as noted in the comments below, Mr. Zuckerberg said specifically, “iPad isn’t mobile,” which means that he doesn’t think it competes in the mobile phone space.
Which means that while Apple might consider iPhone and iPad as kindred spirits due to their shared OS, Facebook doesn’t. In fact, when Mashable’s Ben Barr said to the two execs that Apple would disagree on this issue, Mr. Zuckerberg said in his usual straight forward manner, “Well, sorry.”
Mr. Tseng then stepped in to say that the company is still trying to work out its approach to the tablet market, which suggests that Facebook is looking to bring Facebook to the tablet market as a whole in a unified way.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Tseng pointed out that users wanting to access Facebook on the iPad can do so through Safari. For those people wanting an app experience, there is Friendly for Facebook (US$0.99), Facebook Touch HD ($4.99), or if you just want to make status updates with an emoticon, Emoti HD for Facebook ($2.99).
Facebook on iPad’s Safari browser, with the names of the innocent blurred for their protection…