Unless Apple changes its rules, Facebook won’t have a Home on iOS

Facebook finally unveiled its long-speculated "Facebook phone" in the form of the HTC First, but the phone was actually the least important part of the announcement.

More importantly, Facebook revealed an entirely new piece of software called Facebook Home that will be available for an array of popular Android handsets next week: Samsung's Galaxy S III, S 4, and Note II, and HTC's One, One X, and One X+. Support for other Android handsets (and, eventually, tablets) will follow in the coming months. One of the inquiries at the post-event Q&A session asked an obvious question: will Facebook Home support iOS? "We do have an active dialogue to do more with them but anything that happens with Apple will happen through partnership with them," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the press conference. "Google is aware of what we're doing, but Android is a more open system so we don't have to work directly with them to build this experience." In short, Apple's phones won't be getting Facebook Home any time soon. If you're familiar with how each operating system works, this should come as no surprise. But if you aren't, a brief explanation may be in order.