Let’s make a quick review of Facebook Home since its launch in early April:
- There have only been just 1 million downloads so far. That’s approximately 0.1% of Facebook’s userbase, the vast majority of which have smartphones.
- Of the 16,000 reviews, over half have been one star, not encouraging given that these early adopters presumably represent the most enthusiastic core of Facebook users.
- Facebook have now admitted that it was a mistake to leave out features like widgets, docks and app folders. The omission apparently occurred as a result of their developers all being iPhone users and the resulting lack of appreciation for what really matters on Android.
- AT&T first slashed the price of the Android based HTC Facebook phone from $99 to 99 cents, and now are reportedly considering scrapping it altogether.
All in all, it’s not been the start Zuckerberg would have been hoping for, but there are already plans in place to remedy the major criticism raised by the 1 star reviewers, and perhaps that was always their intention. Facebook Home represented a completely new way for people to view their mobile phones and even great ideas, when completely new, will always struggle to hit the ground running. 99% of truly new ideas need to be evolved based on large scale customer feedback. The danger is that now that the hype seems to be fizzling out, how will they succeed in getting their next million downloads, even if it is to a much healthier and happier Home?
Dan
