Apple Gives Facebook Deep Integration Into iOS 6 With Siri, Sharing, App Store, API

Apple just announced at WWDC 2012 that Facebook will be deeply integrated into iOS6 including single sign-on for apps, photo and map sharing and more.

Facebook is also getting a stronger presence in the iTunes and App Stores so you can Like apps, music, movies, and TV shows and see ones your friends Like. Facebook now works Siri so you can simply talk to communicate with friends, or you post to Facebook via the keyboard from the notification center. Facebook events and birthdays now go into calendar too.

[Authorize Facebook in iOS 6 settings to activate all the new sharing options and always be logged in to Facebook on native mobile apps]

[A ‘Tap to Post” to Facebook button, as well as a “Tap to Tweet” button, have been added to the iOS notification center so you pull down for quick access to sharing]

Your Facebook friend list and mobile device contacts are also more closely sync’d now.

Thanks to a public API for building on Facebook, third-party developers will be able to create new ways for us to share with the world’s most popular social network.

[Share photos, websites, and maps locations to Facebook]

The announcement follows Apple CEO Tim Cook telling the D10 crowd to “stay tuned” for a new collaboration with Facebook, and confirms early reports from TechCrunch’s MG Siegler of the integration. It represents a thawing of cold relations between Apple and Facebook that worsened when Facebook was pulled out of iOS4 at the last minute.

[Compose posts with all the content, friend and location tags, and privacy settings you get on Facebook.com]

Baking Facebook into iOS could just be a one-off integration, the way Twitter was added as a native sharing option in iOS5 but hasn’t gotten much other special treatment from Apple. Still, it could result in a big boost in usage like the 3x increase in sign ups the iOS5 integration gave Twitter.

[Like and see which friends have Liked apps, music, movies, and TV shows in the iTunes store and App Store]

Alternatively, it could be the start of deeper ties between the companies, which could serve to beat back their mutual competitor Google.

The integration was deeper than expected, though, reaching not just sharing but Siri and notifications. This foreshadows that Apple and Facebook could continue collaborating in a value exchange where Apple gets a better user experience and enhanced virality while Facebook gets more sharing hooks that will deliver it content.

[Image Credit: The Verge]