Google and Facebook are not friends by any stretch of the word and are in a continuing battle over web dominance. The latest war tactic is Google declaring that the Facebook contact sync feature is a violation of the Android Terms Of Service. The sync feature, which Android users haver come accustomed to, takes your Facebook contacts and integrates them right into your phone’s contact system.
The update in Android 2.3.3 is currently only taking effect on the Nexus S and all future Google lead devices. The over-the-air update removes all Facebook contacts from your contact list just as if you deleted your Facebook account from the device.
Google’s Statement
“We believe it is very important that users are able to control their data. So in the over-the-air update for Nexus S, we have a small change to how Facebook contacts appear on the device.For Nexus S users who downloaded the Facebook app from Android Market, Facebook contacts will no longer appear to be integrated with the Android Contacts app. Since Facebook contacts cannot be exported from the device, the appearance of integration created a false sense of data portability. Facebook contact data will continue to appear within the Facebook app. Like all developers on Android, Facebook is free to use the Android contacts API to truly integrate contacts on the device, which would allow users to have more control over their data.”
Outcome
As an Android user I admit it was overwhelming at first to have all of my Facebook friends synced into my contacts. However at this point I take that for granted, like it or not Facebook is a viable form of communication. Google seems to understand this and is not forcing this on any other handsets at this time.
Its a power play to show Facebook that they do have that option. It is assumed that Facebook will change and use the contact API Google has in place. This is a move that will benefit the Facebook users of the world as I would like the ability to export my contact list from the cloud and actually on to my device. The ball is in Zuckerberg’s court now, what do you guys think the next move on the front line will be?
Source: TechCrunch