Apple's new iPhone OS 4 looks to include tighter Facebook and social networking integration built directly into the operating system, according to a patent discovery discussed at Patently Apple.
The patent confirms a recent article in Business Insider that revealed the plans to more fully integrate hooks into Facebook directly from iPhone OS 4 as supposed to within the iPhone's popular Facebook app.
Syncing Facebook friends into the iPhone's contact list
At the minimum, this integration includes functionality to import a user's Facebook friends list into the iPhone's contacts phone book.
Another point of integration includes Facebook Connect functionality being part of the iPhone API, so app developers can implement direct hooks between their apps and Facebook.
Additional iPhone social integration at home, work, and school
The article on Patently Apple goes into great detail in examining the different use-cases and process workflows that cover additional scenarios for social integration between iPhone users who also have social networking accounts.
These scenarios center around family communication as well as school and workplace related activities. The school use-case involves a teacher and students and a homework assignment workflow, while the home scenario covers a family meal with the associated recipe acquisition followed by a trip to the grocery store.
Mining Facebook data for local advertising
Considering Apple's fledgling new iAd service, scheduled to be part of iPhone OS 4, it's obvious that access to Facebook's mass of user data could be a boon in providing targeted ads to iPhone users.
Combine the Facebook data with the iPhone's location services and an iPhone could detect that the user is a fan of Chipotle, and note they are near the Chipotle store on Sawmill Rd. in Columbus, and display an ad for the store directly in the currently running app.
Since Facebook is getting a measure of bad publicity for their (lack of) privacy controls, Apple needs to tread lightly in this area and provide a way for users to control their level of how much Facebook data is available to app developers. Still, it's obvious that this kind of ubiquitous social integration is only going to become more prevalent in the future.
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