Facebook App Center Takes on Competition with Web Apps

Facebook yesterday announced the App Center, a new place to find apps — but not just Facebook apps like FarmVille. The App Center includes both free and paid Facebook apps, as well as HTML5 apps that exist within the Facebook app itself. Android, iOS, and "desktop" apps will also be included as long as they integrate with Facebook. The App Center launches in a few weeks, but developers who want to beta test paid apps can get started right the way.

While Facebook tells VentureBeat that it's not competing directly with Apple and Google (since it will send traffic to iOS and Android apps), the App Center puts Facebook in a great position to build a premium HTML5 app store, something Apple nor Google has built. But for now, "the App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook," Facebook said.