Some folks are pointing to yesterday’s iOS 5 Twitter integration annoucement and suggesting that it could have just as easily been Facebook getting that integrated treatment. Clearly Zuckerberg didn’t want to play nice with Jobs, the thinking goes, and that was a missed opportunity.
I’m not so sure. While the benefit to iOS is obvious, what did that Twitter integration do for Twitter? Sure, it makes it far easier for users to tweet photos, links, etc. And that leads ultimately to more users and more activity.But is not having enough users Twitter’s problem? And more importantly, does this deal make money for Twitter? Furthermore, how would this sort of integration benefit Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg’s obvious goal of replacing the entire Internet browsing experience with his Facebook walled garden? Zuckerberg doesn’t want people using proprietary apps on their iPhones to access, or even to create, Facebook content. That’s why there is no native Facebook client for the iPad. He wants people glued all day to their browsers, with their Facebook pages up and running in that browser 24/7.I actually respect Facebook for this. They know how they make money, and they want to secure their financial future. They need iOS users, but in their browsers, not in Apple’s Photos app. Twitter is still figuring out how to make money, and the horse left the stable with third party apps taking over the Twitter experience for many users long ago. Trying to lock everyone into a browser now would be suicide for the service. So why not be deeply integrated into iOS? It doesn’t hurt, but it sure doesn’t help Twitter make money from all those tweets. Mark Zuckerberg is more aligned with Google in this regard. He believes the future of the Cloud is the browser. Apple sees specialized apps connected to Cloud services as the future. Both approaches make perfect sense for both companies. But they are fundamentally incompatible with each other. The only thing Zuckerberg and Jobs have in common is that they are both freaks about control. So a marriage between Facebook and Apple on any level is unlikely any time soon.
