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Facebook struggling to find 'immersive' Home on Apple's iPhone

Gimme some skin ... bitch

Facebook is reportedly in talks with Apple about bringing a version of its new Home interface to the iPhone.

However, it's unlikely that Facebook will be afforded the same type of freedom it received with some Android devices, which were recently decorated with a skin feeding a constant stream of personal information from the free content ad network directly on top of the mobile operating system.

According to Bloomberg, Facebook is hoping to bring its Home software to other devices including Apple's iPhone.

Facebook's product director Adam Mosseri said the company was still at the confab stage with Apple. "We've shown them what we've built and we're just in an ongoing conversation," he said.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the launch of Facebook Home that his firm had an "active dialogue" with Apple, having already "integrated" his network into the iOS.

Of course, Home on the iPhone would require much more immersive access than has ever been allowed by iOS. Mosseri admitted to Bloomberg that the version of Home built for the iPhone could look starkly different to the one created for the Android OS.

"We could... just bring some of the design values to the iOS app," he said. "That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it's not called Home, it's called something else."

In your correspondent's view, it's unlikely that Apple would be happy to have its beloved iPhone effectively rebranded as a Facebook property using such a catch-all term as "Home".

Indeed, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said as much during a visit to London on Monday.

"Home is based on the openness of Android," she told the Telegraph, which clumsily painted her as the "First Lady" of Facebook.

"Apple controls its interfaces... Just look at Android phones - there is a huge range of them. The iPhone always looks like the iPhone."

She apparently added that Facebook would continue to develop for both operating systems, but said that Android allowed the company to "develop a far more immersive Facebook experience" than the Jobsian-controlled iOS. ®

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