Facebook’s Vaughan Smith, VP-Mobility & Corporate Development, recently released a statement sighting company’s vision towards mobility & its partnership with Nokia. Read on- “At Facebook, our mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Openness in offering access to information and learning about the world around you; and connected in providing access to people and being able to reach anyone you want. Today, Facebook has become the primary reason that people want to upgrade their phones and add data.
Connectivity is empowering. When people and communities have access to the Internet, they can connect with new knowledge, new relationships and new opportunities. But still there are nearly 5 billion who are not online. Enabling connections in today’s mobile world requires three things: a device, access to data and applications to connect with people and information.
Devices like the new Nokia Asha phone, which is preloaded with Facebook, are proof that great and more affordable devices are coming to these markets now. And with low price points these devices are becoming the first Internet connected device many people will own. But we know that for the vast majority of consumers mobile data affordability remains a substantial challenge, and want to help remove that hurdle. That’s why we’ve been working with operators to enable free access to Facebook and recently we’ve been working with device partners to launch phones with “Free Facebook” data packages.
Free data access helps everyone. Consumers can spend more time online without worrying about cost, OEM’s sell more web ready devices and operators gain first time data subscribers. We’ve also built a Facebook messaging platform for Asha devices that lets you see which of your friends are online so that you can start messaging with them right away, no matter where they are or what device they’re using on mobile or on the desktop.
Applications are means by which people connect and get access to information and with more than 750 million active mobile users, Facebook mobile apps have become for many, the onramp to get on to the Internet. We’ve worked hard to build a great experience for mobile devices and today more than 6000 different phones have access to rich Facebook experiences, including the ability to find friends from your phone’s contacts. We’ve made messaging a priority, focusing on building a seamless cross platform messaging experience across PC’s, tablets and mobile phones. With three of every four people on Facebook using our messaging products each month, it’s among the most popular activities for our users.
We’re very excited about the opportunity to bring millions of additional people online via Facebook through these joint efforts.”
