Back in October 2007 Facebook Mobile had four million active users, and that number is now up to six million. Yet those numbers are now set to soar further as Facebook launches its Facebook for Mobile Operators service.
Facebook for Mobile Operators is a terms of service arrangement into which Facebook has bundled all its experience with dealing with mobile technology to date, to allow any operator, no matter where or what size, self-service access to Facebook services.
At launch Facebook is offering MMS and WAP site services, and already has Vodafone on board. Vodafone will be launching the service in eight of its territories.
Jed Stremel, director of Facebook for Mobile, said that the terms of service internet approach means that there is no need for lengthy contract or technical discussions. Operators can enter the settings for MMSCs or gateways into the self service portal, and be up and running.
"Operators are passionate at the moment about providing sticky services and driving up data ARPUs. I think we are about to see a ton of operators sign up to this," he said. "There's already operators out there entering their settings and getting ready to go as early as next moneht. And there's just no way we could have managed that many partnership agreements."
With 64 million active users, and a photo service larger than all the other internet sites combined, Facebook is a an absolute dream proposition for mobile operators.
"It's really a illustration of how Facebook is different. We have a technology led approach to solving problems and we think about things on a network level – meaning things like session management and latency are important. We don't view it as the mobile internet and the internet, it's just the internet – and our mission is to have our services universally accessible on any device."
Stremel said it would be up to operators how they would manage the positioning of Facebook mobile services within their portfolios. To date operators have gone down the partnership route with companies such as MySpace and Yahoo! – integrating and optimising these sites and services into their own portals and screen menus.
But Facebook is not offering partnerships to operators, this is a terms of service agreement.
"It's one thing to launch with Vodafone, and we're proud to do so, in eight territories, but it's less common for small regional operators to be partnering with Silicon Valley companies. We have taken the 12-15 existing operator partnerships we have, all those common elements, and distilled them down into simple terms of service that reduce the complexity and the friction of setting up mobile services," Stremel said.