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Comment by teaspoon | Hacker News Reader

Why is a native Facebook application essential on a device that has a serviceable web browser and a netbook-sized screen?

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Because many people like myself think the iPhone app is a superior user experience to the desktop Facebook website and the mobile website.

This is a reason, but is it a good enough reason to divert resources from other areas for?

This is a reason, but is it a good enough reason to divert resources from other areas for?

Considering that Facebook's most important end goal is to make users stay on their website, an optimized and pleasant-to-use app for the iPad and other tablets is a very good reason to divert resources.

Yes. When I got an iPad 2 a week ago, I was very surprised Facebook didn't have an app. It's amateur.

Their existing web interface is touch-unfriendly in a few ways, most notably when it comes to modal popovers with scrollable lists such as a page's fan list.

Last time I checked, chat was also disabled when accessing the web-interface on a tablet. Chat's been my most used Facebook feature for the last few months.

I don't know how common an example I am, but I absolutely hate interacting with Facebook on their website (even on my laptop).

I pretty much only use it via the iPhone application, so I welcome an iPad app (assuming it's laid out similarly).

To post pictures -- which is a major activity on FB. I couldn't figure out how to do it in Safari -- if there's a way, it's not obvious.

safari does not allow file uploads. you can't share your photos if you're on an ipad using FB in the browser.

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