'Facebook aiming the mobile mass market'

BANGALORE, INDIA: Facebook’s recently acquired Snaptu, an Israeli start up that enables people to use smartphone-like applications on simpler "feature" phones . This forms a true mass market phone category.

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Commenting on the development, Ovum principal analyst Eden Zoller said "Snaptu develops applications that make web services available on feature phones, which are the true mass market phone category and therefore exactly where Facebook wants to be."

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According to Zoller feature phones are less highly specified and priced than smartphones like the iPhone and are therefore particularly important for users in emerging markets, where in many countries mobile penetration is greater than fixed. In this context feature phones will dominate consumer access to the Internet and their experience of web services. This is a high growth opportunity and Facebook is making sure it is in a good position to exploit it, he said.

The analyst noted that Snaptu developed a Facebook for Feature Phones application earlier this year and it is now available on 2,500 different devices.Facebook must like the results, judging by the $60-$70 million it is widely reported to be paying for the Israeli developer, and clearly sees Snaptu’s technology as a means of extending its reach to a wider base of feature phone users.

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