The iOS app store seems to have a new replacement for the default Calendar app on the front page every other day. Personally, I have no issues with the onboard app thanks to a clever workaround to sync it with Google Calendar, but it’s becoming obvious that many people want something either more feature heavy or minimalist or aesthetically interesting. And so, in the wake of Facebook’s recent announcement that it wants to expand it’s mobile strategy to include multiple single feature apps rather than one bloated one, it seems obvious that the social networking giant move into the calendar app space.
The question is, what will Facebook do to make their calendar replacement different from the hundreds of other options in the App Store and Google Play? Well, as we’ve seen with their purchase of Instagram, the launching of “Poke” in hopes to beat out Snapchat and their appropriation of Flipboard’s aesthetic (as well as another successful app’s name) for Paper they aren’t above playing dirty. The way I see it there are three options here:
The Good Option
Facebook could seriously innovate in the calendar space on their own. Events are already a core component of their network, and an overhaul of that system spearheaded by the launch of a standalone calendar app could really strengthen their identity as the go-to social tool for your real-life network of friends and family.
The Bad Option
Facebook could buy up other calendar apps and combine their features into a Facebook-ified mega-app. In particular I’m thinking they might be interested in the Scheduler feature built-into Canary. This could easily be incorporated into Facebook’s existing Events system and scheduling requests could be sent through Message. I can also see the acquisition of Peek specifically for its interface.
The Ugly Option
Facebook could cut support for its events feature to all other calendar apps on the release of their own app. This would probably go over about as well as Twitter’s cutting support for Instagram when Zuckerberg bought the photo-sharing service, but it would definitely guarantee them some market share. Excluding other apps from a service relying on membership to your own site seems like a bad move even for Facebook, but I wouldn’t necessarily put it past them with the amount of over-crowding in this space.