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Facebook's Dustin
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Merging personalities: RIM, Facebook
tag-team keynote
By Colin
Gibbs
Story posted: October 24,
2007 - 9:58 pm EDT
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![]() | So this
is what they mean by "One show, two
personalities."
Wednesday's keynote coupled the
buttoned-down executive style of Research In Motion Ltd. with
the hip, edgy verve of Facebook. Dustin Moskovitz, who
co-founded the popular social networking site, unveiled a new
application that delivers news feeds and messages on
BlackBerry devices-the hallmark gadget of on-the-go
professionals.
"All the push technology that made
BlackBerry famous, and all the (social networking
capabilities) that made Facebook famous, are coming together
to provide a real-time expansion from the desktop" to mobile,
said RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, whose coat and tie contrasted
with Moskovitz's jeans and untucked shirt.
The
offering allows users to create personalized notifications and
alerts for Facebook messages, and T-Mobile USA will be the
first carrier to offer BlackBerrys with the embedded
application. Users of other carriers can download the software
from Facebook's site.
The move underscores a phenomenal
expansion from Facebook in recent months. Once a destination
solely for college students, the site has morphed into a place
where both students and professionals can create profiles,
post updates and exchange messages. Like other successful
sites such as Flickr and MySpace, Facebook's site accepts
widgets for third-party applications, allowing users one-click
access to other social networking destinations.
That
openness is a mindset Facebook hopes to extend to
mobile.
"It's going to be big, and my bet is, it's
going to be open," Moskovitz said of the future of wireless.
"If you move now, you have an opportunity to be disruptive in
the industry."
And the announcement highlights RIM's
effort to move beyond the boardroom and into the lives of
consumers. The company last year began targeting more casual
users with its Pearl, a consumer-targeted device that received
glowing reviews, and developers are increasingly building
games and other goodies for the platform.
Facebook has
made headlines recently as a potential target for acquisition
by a heavyweight such as Google Inc. or Microsoft Corp. The
company is expected to a stake of 5% or 10% in a deal that
would value Facebook at a whopping $15 billion.
But
Facebook is facing some stiff competition in mobile. Pure-play
startups such as airG , Itsmy.com and Jumbuck have built
impressive user bases by allowing members to post updates and
exchange photos with other users.
Just how lucrative
the mobile social networking space might be is still
uncertain, however. Wireless startups are drawing impressive
numbers, but some are struggling to generate the advertising
revenues necessary to fuel the business. Advertisers new to
the space are opting to allocate their ad dollars to more
familiar, high-profile brands instead of newcomers whose names
may not be recognizable by mainstream consumers.
"What
you'll see is that the better-known entities are out there not
having as hard of a time selling their inventories, whereas
the new companies hare having a little bit of a harder time
because it's a new medium for advertisers," according to Chris
Arens, director of marketing for Ad Infuse Inc., a San
Francisco-based mobile marketing startup. "That's the biggest
struggle in what we're trying to do right now. Not all the
(mobile) traffic is going to what has historically been the
big online giants. That's just an education issue."
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