Facebook releases mobile camera app after IPO flop

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook released a “camera” application Thursday that lets people take Instagram-style pictures that can be shared with iPhones.

The stand-alone application synchs to the leading social network, letting friends consult one another’s photos.

The new mobile app “makes using Facebook photos faster and easier,” according to product manager Dirk Stoop.

“You’ll see a feed of great photos from the people you care about,” Stoop said in a Facebook post. “You can swipe to see more of any album or tap to enlarge an individual photo.”

The mini-program also let people share many pictures simultaneously instead of having to post them one at a time to the social network, according to Stoop.

Facebook Camera was due to be available at Apple’s online App Store late Thursday.

The Menlo Park, California-based social network made a billion-dollar deal in April to buy the startup behind wildly popular smartphone photo sharing application Instagram.

The big ticket purchase was seen by some as a move by Facebook to strengthen defenses against Google and blazingly hot newcomer Pinterest.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in announcing the deal.

“Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

An Instagram application tuned to Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices has been downloaded more than 30 million times since the first version was released in late 2010 by the San Francisco startup.

A version of the application tailored for smartphones powered by Google-backed Android software racked up more than a million users in the 24 hours after its recent release.

Word of Facebook Camera came in the aftermath of an initial public offering of stock that made insiders and investors rich but left small buyers of shares feeling abused.

Lack of a clear strategy for making money from users who connect to the social network using smartphones or tablet computers was considered to be among the reasons Facebook stock sank below its opening price of $38 per share.

Facebook stock reversed its losing trend on Thursday, inching up to $33.03 a share from $31.99 a day earlier after the close of trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

More than a half-dozen law firms specializing in investor complaints said this week that they were launching class action suits against the social networking giant and its underwriters.

The suits alleged that Facebook, along with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other big Wall Street banks that distributed the shares withheld from smaller investors crucial forecasts that pointed to weaker growth for Facebook, while sharing the information with big institutional clients.

A separate lawsuit against the Nasdaq exchange said its massive technical problems on the first day of Facebook trade on Friday also resulted in losses to investors.

All told, the claims could come to billions: more than $15 billion have been wiped from the company’s value since the initial public offering gave it a market capitalization of $104 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook falls flat in market debut

NEW YORK — Facebook shares stumbled Friday after an early surge faded, dampening optimism over the much-anticipated debut for the world’s biggest social network.

The stock appeared headed for a flat close after a roller-coaster session.

The shares, priced at $38 on Thursday in the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) for a technology company, jumped 12 percent to $42.55 in the opening Nasdaq trades but within minutes fell back to the offering price.

A midday rally pushed the price back up but just ahead of the close the price fell back to $38.

“The negativity in the market overall has put a damper on the IPO,” said Darren Hayes, a Pace University professor and former investment banker.

“It’s not uncommon in an IPO to see a big rise and then for the price to come back down, but I’m a bit surprised (by the market action) after all the hype.”

“I think there may be some skeptical investors who see some challenges in the long-term outlook of the company.”

Gerard Hoberg, an economist at the University of Maryland said there was enthusiasm from some buyers but skepticism from professionals.

“What I think is going on is you have a lot of bullishness from retail investors, people who use Facebook, and there’s a lot of those investors creating a lot of buying pressure,” he said.

“But professionals who were looking at the numbers behind Facebook had a lot more doubts, and that is cooling the issue quite a bit.”

Hoberg said the market introduction “is not a disaster by any stretch, and you also could say that the Facebook owners are quite pleased because they didn’t leave a lot of money on the table. But it will not be a pleasant taste in people’s mouths if Facebook falls below $38 anytime in the near future.”

A report on the Business Insider financial blog said the price did not fall below $38 because of a large number of standing orders at the offering price. The Wall Street Journal said the underwriting investment banks also stepped in to support the price.

Lou Kerner of the Social Internet Fund said the market action suggests the IPO was correctly priced.

“The company raised a ton of money, lots of early investors, employees, and founders were able to monetize shares, and it’s trading up a little, so the new investors did OK,” he said.

James Hughes, chief market analyst at London’s Alpari said “the real value of Facebook is not likely to be known until the hype of the IPO has died away and investor have been able to digest how the company is going evolve to be the money-making machine many expect it to be.”

source: interaksyon.com