Bebo's Own Open App Program

When OpenSocial (which has yet to launch in full) is ready and stable, Birch said, Bebo will add those APIs to its developer arsenal, too. “OpenSocial and the Facebook Platform are clearly different platforms,” he said, then added jokingly, “Our lazy development team said they couldn’t do both at once.”

I wonder if he was joking when he informed the assembled reporters that “There’s a little bit of a land grab with social networks.” (To which the assembled reporters said, “What?! Really? Huh. I’m one of the 50 people this side of the Atlantic who’s heard of Bebo and you’re telling me there’s some competition in the field? Did not know that.”)

Bebo’s platform will feature a ratings system to make it easy to find good (or at least popular) apps, as well as the ability to fully skin the apps to match your profile. At launch today, they had around forty developers and companies already working on their apps, including an app for The Office. And some others, but they probably won’t do as well as The Office, although there’s no word on whether you’ll be able to earn Schrutebucks.

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