iOS devices will soon get infiltrate from Facebook own Android based home application named as ‘Chat Heads’.

iPhone and iPad has received the latest update for Facebook Apps like Chat Heads, stickers and other UI improvements. Only one disadvantage remains that Facebook Home will be useful for Android users rather than iOS users who will get accustomed with this new apps Chat Head.

As we know there is always an issue with the restrictions of any apps in Apple based OS, but the new app Chat Head is only limited to Facebook only which was not meant to be when it was started developing this app. The basic goal of Facebook was to reach as much user’s hand so that everyone can use this unique app.

This new application from Facebook is available in market now for iOS devices, but there is one complaint that some users is getting hands into this new apps, so still in some weeks it will launch in other places.

Telecom operators and the handset manufacturers are going to collaborate with world’s famous social networking giant Facebook to expand its base & market oppurtunities in India as per Business Standard.

251 millions unit is the next year handset selling figure as per reports released from research firm Gartner.

 13.5% is the expected growth rate of India’s mobile handset as per report came from Research Firm. 326 million is the expected sales figure to be reached by 2016 by looking into the entry of several new handset manufacturers.

Right now there is tough competition going on in Indian Mobile Market & right now 150 handset makers are selling their products into the consumers market. 91 percent of overall mobile phone sales constitute of low cost  handset makers one of the most recognized kind of handsets.

71 million is the expected user base to be expanded from Faceboo end as per report. Facebook is quite focus in Indian market due to the large population & the certain amount of growth in the handset market where most of the users uses laptops & PC’s to access Facebook.

To provide free & easy data access to mobile subscribers Facebook has recently joined hands with some well known operators like Airtel, Reliance. Already Facebook the one & only top most social networking giant in the world partners with more than 18 operators in diferent countries across the world. Actually this free data access will available for those phone only which supports iOS Messenger, Android Messenger & Facebook for anyphone soon to be available in upcoming months.

 Some of the well known operators around the world like Oi in Brazil, Etisalat in Egypt, and Tre in Italy, AXIS and XL Axiata in Indonesia, SMART in Philippines, DiGi in Malaysia, DTAC in Thailand, Viva in Bahrain, STC in Saudi Arabia, TMN in Portugal, Three in Ireland, Vivacom in Bulgaria, Backcell in Azerbaydzhan, Indosat, Smartfren providing this services via. Facebook.

 As per report collected on December 31st 2012 71 million active users & 1.06 billion monthly active users in worldwide.

This kind of unique move from Facebook puts a lot o things in the line like promoting mobile messaging, mobile-only messenger services like WhatsApp, Viber, LINE. Again this new messaging apps were severely affecting the telco operators revenue but Facebook here plays a major role or say a symbiotic way to resolve this issue.

Again at the end of last year Facebook has launched an unique mobile apps which help users to access messaging service without login into Facebook Account. This new apps were running only on Android Phones in regions like  India, Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela and South Africa. Again RCom is offering Facebook Messaging plan only for Rs 16 per month.

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There is a huge competition going on for the top ranking position in the social networking platform. Some of the top level social networking platforms are like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, myLife, Orkut, Google+ & many more in the list. But recently Google+ has occupied No. 2 position in the social networking web portal slot in the world just after Facebook the No. 1 in this slot at the end of Q4 2012.

As per recent statistics 693 millions are the estimated user in Facebook & 343 millions are the estimated user in Google+. From the above statistics it clearly shows that Google+ will catch up the Facebook in terms of user.

Local Social Networking Platforms are turning themselves into global in terms of regular shift usage for Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. Recently most active usage was seen for Twitter i.e. around 40 percent i.e. almost 288 million or 90 percent of global internet population. Similarly, Facebook shares 51 percent user on monthly basis, Google+ shares around 25 percent, YouTube shares 21 percent on actively basis.

Google+ is shocking for the entire internet enthusiast that recently Google+ has shown a certain growth of 27 percent on monthly basis.

Recently, Google+ has maintained this status by updating this feature. It has introduced pan & zoom feature for its high resolution images. This tools aimed for professionals especially artists.

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After the HTC Salsa and the ChaCha phones, news is abuzz that Taiwanese handset vendor HTC is currently developing another Android smartphone in collaboration with Facebook.

HTC in collaboration with Facebook

We had known since last year that such kind of a phone was in the works but a recent DigiTimes report has mentioned, this unnamed handset is expected to be launched in the third quarter this year at the earliest.

While these previous models had a dedicated Facebook button but this upcoming model, as mentioned in the report, will feature some “customized” UI and will have a “platform exclusive to Facebook.”

Now by this customized platform what Facebook and HTC are possibly trying to do is change the integration of the app as seen on the earlier devices. This app should be more exhaustive and won’t look the same as the user interface could be different.

According to a report published by The Verge, Facebook wants to take the reins of christening (it wants to name the phone itself), marketing and branding of this new handset in its own hands and doesn’t want the vendor to do anything rather than doing the manufacturing bit. Now that is quite unlikely as we don’t think if HTC would wish to sit back as only a dumb smartphone maker.

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Facebook has 901 million monthly dynamic users, the social media networking company assumed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in front of floating its much predictable IPO. 

Other imposing statistics exposed by the company comprise 3.2 billion likes and comments a day, 300 million daily photo uploads and a network of 125 billion friendships.

As earlier data in February says that facebook has 845 million users in two months the user has been increased and come up to 901 million .

Facebook had $3.7 billion in income in 2011, an 88 percent enlarge from the previous year. According to its filing,Facebook posted a earnings of $1 billion last year, with the mass of that coming from advertising. Nate Elliott, an forecaster with Forrester Research, said Facebook was far from recognize its impending as an advertising platform. It could use data on users, for occurrence, to provide them advertising on other websites, not just its own. It could also generate a more “intelligent system,” as he put it, to match marketers to the right customers.

Like the resolute youth it is, Google’s promising social network is assertively going its own way. In an AFP interview, Google+ vice president Bradley Horowitz shrugged off Silicon Valley fascination with a Facebook competition and focused on the internet titan playing to its powers with an eye on the future.

Google sees Google+ adding to 500m users

“The way we think about Google+ is not pretending that today we can compete along every dimension of every competitor that is in a space,” Horowitz said.

“The goals for Google+ are long-ranging and broad,” he continued. “This is a reinvention of the consumer’s relationship with Google that is going to unfold over a period of years.”

The average number of people who use Google+ each month has climbed to 100 million since it opened to the public in September of last year. The figure for daily users is 50 million.

“Eventually, the 100 million users today are going to blossom into 500 million and by that time you will discover that all of your friends will be there on Google+,” Horowitz predicted.

A unique Hangouts feature that lets as many as ten people at once get together for group video chats is a huge draw at the online community.

Hangouts can be limited to invited friends or opened to anyone.

The US president, musician Will.i.am, Desmond Tutu and even the Dalai Lama have taken part in “On Air” hangouts in which intimate online gatherings can be openly viewed at the social network.

“We think looking somebody in the eye and communicating in the normal social way we’ve learned to do over millennia is important,” Horowitz said. “We wanted to bring that authenticity back into the equation.”

Hangouts have surprised the Google+ team. They have been used for language and music lessons. A stutterers’ support group uses them for group meetings.

Hangouts are used to let bedridden people virtually explore the world.

Longtime photographer John Butterill of Canada was new to Google+ when he took a sick friend on a “virtual photo walk” using a smartphone, a professional camera, and a hangout.

Butterill hiked snowy woods near his home during a streamed hangout in which his friend saw through the camera lens and directed the shots. A video of the walk posted at the social network went viral.

“I came home from the walk and there it was being shared by everyone,” Butterill told AFP. “My mouth dropped open.”

The friends launched a Virtual Photo Walks page at Google+ with a mission to “walk for those who can’t.”

Google+ users in cities around the world have signed on to act as legs and hands of people physically unable to venture out for themselves.

A photographer in Australia freshly recovered from a broken back virtually took a woman with Multiple Sclerosis on a walk to a beach in Perth.

“She said she never thought she’d hear the ocean again,” Butterill said. “These people really know how to choke you up.”

A photographer for nearly 40 years, Butterill insists that those directing shots get credit and rights to walk images.

“I am just the arms and legs,” Butterill said. “It is like the person on the other side is holding the camera. It’s just plain cool.”

Virtual photo walks can go beyond picture-taking to being a way for people with disabilities to attend meetings or political events or even negotiate contracts in real time, according to Butterill.

“A soldier could take his hospitalized friend virtually to a pub for beer,” he said.

Butterill’s vision includes taking sick children on virtual photo walks of Disneyland.

“When we brought hangouts to market we knew we had something very special, but there was no way of telling whether this would be the next Chatroulette or something more meaningful,” Horowitz said.

“It is really delightful when a product you built changes people’s lives and you get these heartfelt stories about how it has touched them.”

Google is weaving its social network into offerings such as its search engine and online video-sharing stage YouTube for a synergy that could offset the edge given Facebook by its network of more than 840 million members.

“Google of five years ago had many magical products, but they didn’t sing in harmony,” Horowitz said.

“We are creating a more comprehensive user experience across all of what we are doing,” he continued. “We are threading the needle very carefully to do that without spoiling the magic.”

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A little group of US smartphone owners has file a court case challenging that Facebook, Twitter and other creator of smartphone “apps” pay greatly for mining people’s contact lists. 

Apple, Facebook smashed for stealing personal info

The suit filed in federal court in Austin, Texas on Monday listed Apple among the defendants, arguing that mini-programs are not allowed on the company’s coveted iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch devices without its approval.

Lawyers representing the 13 Austin smartphone owners argue that the applications invaded people’s privacy by “stealing” personal address book data.

A hot trend toward making applications “mobile and social” resulted in smartphone users’ contact lists being tapped into to help find friends or family members that people might want to connect with in online communities.

But the lawsuit argues that delving into address book data without express permission is an invasion of privacy.

The list of defendants included “Angry Birds” game creator Rovio and US videogame giantElectronic Arts, as well as career-centered social network LinkedIn.

“Essentially, on the cheap and on the sly these defendants have impermissibly mined their App users’ phones for contact data,” lawyers stated in court documents made available online Thursday.

The suit calls for a court order barring the practice and for the 18 companies listed as defendants, including Facebook and Twitter, to pay substantial cash damages.

For such a case to succeed, lawyers must prove app users suffered quantifiable harm. Attorneys also want class-action status to represent anyone who may have used one of the offending apps.

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Yahoo Inc prosecutes Facebook Inc on Monday above 10 patents that consist of methods and systems for promotion on the Web, according to a copy of the proceedings. 

Yahoo prosecute Facebook above patents

The lawsuit, filed in a San Jose, California federal court, marks the first major legal battle among technology giants in social media and a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tabletsectors and high-tech stalwarts such as AppleInc, Microsoft Corp and Motorola MobilityHoldings Inc.

Yahoo’s patent lawsuit follows Facebook’s announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about $100 billion. A Facebook spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

In an emailed statement, Yahoo said it is confident it will prevail.

“Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court,” the company said in a statement.

Several social networking companies, including Facebook, have seen an uptick in patent claims asserted against them as they move through the IPO process.

However, most of those lawsuits have been filed by patent aggregators that buy up intellectual property to squeeze value from it via licensing deals and none by a large tech company such as Yahoo.

In 2000, when Google might reckon it’s workers by the dozen, it espouses its now prominent mantra: Don’t be evil. Now, 12 years later, Google has above 30,000 employees with annual profits of $38 billion and rising, and even though it still sees itself as a company doing excellent, it’s most recent actions raise the question: Is Google too big not to be evil? 

This month alone Google has been caught up in more privacy debates than I’ve eaten hot meals. It was discovered that Google was circumventing privacy settings on Web browsersto track the behavior of consumers.

But wait, there’s more. On Wednesday dozens of state attorneys general sent Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, a letter saying that the company’s latest privacy policy updates, in which it merged all of a user’s data from across Google products, are “troubling for a number of reasons” and “invade consumer privacy.”

I’m not done yet. A product released last month called Google Search Plus Your World integrates Google Plus, the company’s social network, into its search results, seemingly at the expense of its rivals in social search, Facebook and Twitter. This integration seems to go against the company’s founding principles.

When Google’s founders, Page and Sergey Brin, outlined their plan for Google in their originalStanford University paper, they said search engine bias was “particularly insidious,” adding that competitors often biased their search results to suit themselves, not the user.

Slapping Google Plus into every search result, without much regard of whether it is a better experience for the user, seems pretty biased to me.

Does all this add up to a clear sign that Google has given up on its first principles?

“The past two months have been unprecedented; there has never been anything like it at the company,” said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the blog Search Engine Land, who has closely covered Google since the company began. “They are a big company, and any big company is always going to have something happen that they don’t expect. But these things keep happening where you can’t even trust their word.”

When I asked Sullivan if Google was now too big not to be evil, he said, “I don’t think they were ever not evil.”

Google says nothing has changed.

I asked David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, last month if the company had regrets about its repeated privacy stumbles. “We’ve made our share of mistakes like everybody,” he said. “And we learn from them.”

Indeed, what may seem to be stumbles are concerted efforts to compete.

“We have always believed that the perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want,” said Jill Hazelbaker, the director of corporate communications at Google. “That’s why we are focused on building a more meaningful relationship with our users based around identity. We believe that knowing who our users are and the people who matter to them will dramatically improve search.”

Google is more likely than ever to bump heads as it takes on the other giants of technology – Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Apple - which are going for the same goals. Consumers who trusted and even had warm fuzzy feelings for some of those companies when they were upstarts or underdogs are now warier as they get bigger and play rougher. Our distrust of big companies may just be part of the natural evolution of start-ups.

I don’t think Page is sitting in a large chair in a dark tower, wearing a large pinkie ring and stroking a hairless cat while plotting world domination. (At least I hope he’s not.)

But as Google has grown, and the company sees the threat of others on the horizon, it seems that “do the right thing” may have been paused to prevent itself from fading like a Yahoo or anAOL.