Facebook: HTML5? Maybe. iPad App? No Comment

Somebody recently noticed that videos on Facebook would play properly on an iPad or iPhone — and, in a classic case of 2 + 2 = 5, concluded that the social network colossus had implemented HTML5 coding to accomplish that.

Not so, sez FB.  Speaking to TechCrunch, a rep explained "All new videos are encoded in h264 format, so we‚Äôre playing videos
natively in the iPad since it supports h264-encoded videos.‚Äù  (Remember, the reason that (as an example) Hulu won't play bubkis on an iDevice is that the playback/ad/tracking wrapper around its videos is Flash-based, despite the underlying vids being in h264 format as well.)  The rep conceded that they were considering HTML5 for the future, but nothing was definite.

On the subject of the iPad, TechCrunch also asked if Facebook had an iPad-flavored app in the works.  Said the rep, ‚ÄúWe don‚Äôt have anything to announce re: your iPad question.‚Äù  This is especially frustrating since a Facebook app was one of the inaugural offerings of the App Store — and Joe Hewitt, who developed said app, recently abandoned his own attempts at an iPad flavor after growing disgusted with the App Store policies.