This is a guest post by Roger Collings, who is the Managing Director of RDC Communications Ltd and a telecoms consultant specialising in computer telephony integration.

Facebook last week unveiled its much-anticipated App Center, an app store offering more than 600 Facebook and Facebook-related apps for web and mobile users. A quick peak at the App Center reveals a number of popular games including Angry Birds Friends, Texas Holdem Poker and Zynga Slingo. And it’s not just games, the App Center features some of the currently bestselling apps including Pinterest, Draw Something, Nike+, Path, and Ghost Recon.

Of course, several mobile users would agree that you can find these apps on respective app stores – Google Play and Apple App Store, so is the Facebook App Center really needed? So, what’s the USP of Facebook App Center & how does it fit alongside Apple’s App Store and Google Play? Let’s find out.

What is App Center?

As expected, the App Center only focuses on web, desktop and mobile apps which offer Facebook integration. In that sense, it’s not really a competitor to Apple App Store and Google Play – rather, it’s a handy discovery tool to find new apps based on your and your friends’ Facebook activity.

How does it work?

If you want to install an app listed in the App Center, click on the associated ‘Send to Mobile’ button as shown below.














When you click on the above button, Facebook sends a notification with a referral link to the Facebook app installed on your phone. Once you click on the below shown notification, Facebook redirects you to the appropriate mobile app store to actually download and install the app.





























The best part - App Center recommends you apps based on your and your friends’ Facebook activity. So, if you’ve installed a large number of apps using Facebook Connect, there’s a good chance that App center will have several recommendations for you.

Why should you use it?

For a start, the Facebook App Center currently has a little over 600 apps at the moment. Therefore, it’s much easier to find a Facebook iOS or Android app on App Center as opposed to searching for it on Apple App Store or Google Play.

What Facebook App Center is not?

It’s easy to mistake Facebook App Center as yet another app store – which it’s not. It’s not meant to compete against Apple App Store, Google Play or for that matter – any mobile application app store. Instead, it should be looked at as a tool offering convenience of searching Facebook web, desktop and mobile apps in one place.

In fact, the App Center does not ‘sell’ apps at all.

Have you tried out the Facebook App Center? Please share your experience on App Center by leaving a comment.