As of right now, Facebook cannot make any money on its own apps because they do not own the browsers that are used on Apple and Android devices. Facebook would still like to make some cash from these apps and today announced a “Facebook Credit” system where in a developer would allow a sale of in app goods and Facebook would get 30 percent of the transaction. Facebook credits would allow users to purchase virtual goods for games like FarmVille or Texas HoldEM Poker. Right now there are 85 million Facebook users on iPhone, 52 million on Android and 38 million on Blackberry.
Experts say that since Facebook is serious about going public either this year or next, they are going to want to get onboard with the virtual good industry that could top $20 billion by 2014. Facebook makes most of its money through advertising and those numbers hit $2 billion last year, but if Facebook wants to be a more serious buy for stock holders, they are going to have to make money in other markets. Getting into the “credits” business for Facebook means a lot when it comes to how many users are on mobile devices. Apple and Android are already making that money, but Facebook is hoping to take some of that from them.
Facebook clearly understand how important the mobile industry can be for a company and by showing interest in this type of move, Facebook is going to look very good to those that want to invest when the company finally goes public. Since Facebook is the most popular on both Apple and Android, it was just a matter of time before the company decided they were going to be making money from that popularity.
Facebook has declined to comment at this time because a deal is still in the works. Basically, the Facebook credit system gives developers a way to sell virtual goods, like tractors in FarmVille, and Facebook takes a cut of that transaction, if the transaction takes place on a PC. If the transaction takes place on a mobile device, within apps from Apple or Android, Facebook doesn’t see any commission. A new standard, called HTML5, is something that Facebook is asking developers to stick to. HTML5 allows animated images and graphics to render without being downloaded from an app store to any device.
In the end, diversifying the income for Facebook is only going to help the company as a whole and the effect on the user is almost zero.
