Austin, TX — Facebook on Saturday announced introduced a new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX. Facebook’s new Facebook Connect for iPhone now allows users of its flourishing social-networking community to have fun on the road by connecting their iPhone applications with their Facebook friends, profiles and feeds.
Facebook senior platform manager Dave Morin, took the stage to announce the new iPhone integration, the recently released Facebook features for brands and celebrities, and the new homepage design that began rolling out last week, while flanked by an array of hip social software makers at a panel talk at South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.
“For the first time, your iPhone apps can now have friends,” Morin said before panelists displayed applications that expand the borders of Facebook’s online community onto iPhones and iPod Touch devices.
Facebook Connect for the iPhone essentially does for iPhone apps what it does for blogs and social websites. It empowers users broadcast their activities, updates and any other sharable data to their Facebook feeds. It also extends their Facebook profiles into those other apps, so if a user is logged in to an app with Facebook Connect, it becomes easier for them to see which of their Facebook friends are using that app, or to invite their Facebook friends to install the app and play along with them.
On the opposite side, the technology covers ID verification and simplifies the creation of user accounts within participating apps. Developers can start building it into their apps now.
“I can now pull out my iPhone and play it not only my other friends with iPhones, but I can also play with my mom — she can join in and play with us on her computer,” said Morin.
Facebook Connect for the iPhone is introduced with nine applications available at Apple’s online iTunes store and a promise that more will launch in coming days.
Mini software programs tailored to combine with the Facebook operating platform allows social-networking service users play games with each other online, share restaurant reviews while on the move, and locate friends.
Morin invited several iPhone developers to show off their new functionality. Representatives from Playfish, Tapulous, and SGN showed off how Facebook Connect for iPhone will work with games. For instance, you can share you scores in your Facebook feed, see which of your friends are online, and invite both iPhone- and non-iPhone-using Facebook friends to play with you.
“Agency Wars” appears to be the most exciting game that allows people pretend to be members of agencies such as the CIA or MI6 and work as mobile teams on missions while becoming “the most deadly spy around.” It is a spy game that uses geolocation to let you leave clues and set traps in specific real-world locations. Recruit friends to your spy agency, or play against them and “assassinate them.”
“In addition to Facebook and other social utilities, we believe iPhone and iPod touch represent the next generation of entertainment platforms,” said Playfish chief executive Kristian Segerstrale.
“Win or lose, you will have the option to publish a story back to Facebook, where all of your friends can see it,” said Facebook engineer Joe Hewitt.
Other apps that employ Facebook Connect include the popular Urbanspoon and Flixster Movies apps. Urbanspoon now lets users post restaurant pictures and reviews on their Facebook feeds, and Flixster does a similar thing for movies. Look for Facebook Connect-enabled apps soon from Citysearch, CitizenSports, Loopt, MTV, EA Sports, and several other companies.
Of course, there are apprehensions about privacy , which Facebook stresses are clearly explained and are easy for non-technical users to control.
For a detailed background, here is a video of Facebook’s Morin and Chris Messina of the OpenID Foundation talking about Facebook Connect.