Recently, I saw a very interesting chart from the Morgan Stanley team, including Mary Meeker, Scott Devitt and Liang Wu (News - Alert), during a presentation on Web 2.0.

 

The data they gather is top notch and the discussion about the macroeconomic trends and their impact on our lifestyle is not to be overlooked. But their chart comparing Facebook (News - Alert) to the iPhone could be the subject of its own presentation.

 

First of all, here are the facts. There are less than 60 million users of the iPhone / iTouch as compared to 390 million Facebook users. So the ratio says that Facebook has more than six times the base of Apple (News - Alert). On the application side, it’s close to the same, with 85,000 apps in the Apple camp and about 350,000 in applications. So that’s almost 4-to-1 in favor of Facebook.

 

This would indicate that Facebook has more downloads, correct?

 

Survey says – “XXX” – wrong answer.

 

Apple beats Facebook 4 to 1 on downloads with over 2 billion, versus 500 million applications.

 

Now why is that?

 

It could be that the App Store model is vibrant and alive and essential in order for people to allow the technology to be installed. It could also be that the endorsement by Apple of the quality of its product extends people’s willingness to use an application. Finally, it should be pointed out that, in some ways, we can make the case that this is what the iPhone was designed for applications (we know it was not to be a phone).

 

Those would all be the positives of the application models being touted in the market.

 

On the negative side for Apple and the positive side for Facebook, it could be that Facebook’s system is not about the applications but about the community. One of my daughters tells me that she never tries applications because they want you to share with your friends so they make you a spammer. That certainly cuts down on the number of interested parties. Additionally, most often you use Facebook while you are using a browser. And with the exception of Apple, most devices allow you to have multiple windows. So why stay in Facebook for an application if you can also just try it on the Web? That provides further discernment in the try versus buy mode.

 

The implication here is that maybe Facebook is a better place to understand the future of application development than Apple, because even though the iPhone is the hands-down leader, it may be that Facebook is closer to the 4G experience of having the full experience of the Internet.

 

Or it could be that the privacy issues are so bad that Facebook suffers from app suppression, that if it were properly managed by a carrier’s ability to manage device specific implications could be a boom market.

 

It’s these kind or questions, that make me think that listening to Google (News - Alert) at next month’s 4GWE Conference might give me some insight, as Craig Walker, Rick Whitt, Michael Robertson (News - Alert) share their vision.