Thanks to Carlo at Mobhappy for the heads up on this Wall Street Journal article, which claims that Nokia and Facebook have been in close talks lately, regarding how best to integrate the social network into Nokia’s phones, specifically the phonebook. This is great news, as most of us have gotten quite annoyed lately that S60 seems to be the only smartphone platform without a decent Facebook application.
The WSJ is quick to point out that there are several alternatives being looked at between Nokia and Facebook, including one option which would have Nokia creating its own social network (let’s hope that one gets pushed off the table quickly). The partnership could see integration with Nokia’s phonebook, allowing users to see their Facebook friends in their phone’s addressbook, as well as whether or not those friends are online. Both companies are expected to make small announcements next week at Mobile World Congress, but nothing major. You can read the full WSJ article here.
I have to say, the sooner this happens, the better. The S60 phonebook is a wasteland in terms of usefulness, and is in dire need of presence information. Adding Facebook support is one way to do that, and let’s face it, we’re all glad they’re apparently not talking to MySpace. Gross. If Nokia is going to work on integrating Facebook, here’s my suggestions:
1. It needs to be available to all S60 3rd Edition, and beyond. If it’s limited to just S60v3 Feature Pack 2, or worse yet, S60 5th Edition, it’s only going to upset and annoy users, and rightfully so.
2. It needs to offer *full* integration. Status updates, contact information (email, phone number, etc), chat, and photo/video uploads. I *really* like the idea of having my friends’ online status updated in my phonebook, too.
What do you think? Are you a Facebook user? If so, what level of integration would you like to see between Facebook and your S60-powered smartphone?
