Facebook’s new ‘Lite’ app aims for the next billion users in India

Facebook today launched its stripped-down Facebook Lite app at an event in Bangalore, India.

It’s a version of the regular Facebook app designed for emerging markets that takes up less space on smartphones and works equally well on 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Facebook Lite claims to function optimally by consuming less mobile data and working steadily on unstable internet access. It’s available for Android and is designed to work well on cheaper or older phones that lack power.

Facebook Lite has been available for download since June. Today marks its official release in India and the Philippines.

125M Facebookers in India

Although India’s major cities have 3G and 4G mobile networks, many people in smaller cities don’t have stable 3G mobile internet access. That’s who Facebook is now going after.

Facebook currently has over 125 million users in India, said Vijay Shankar, product manager at Facebook. 90 percent of those access the social network via mobile. “Over 875 million people in the world access the internet through 2G and we wanted to create a good user experience for these users to enable better access in emerging markets,” he added.

Facebook Lite is less than 500 KB in size and supports all core functions that the regular Facebook app provides. When asked about the lack of videos in the new app, Shankar said, “We launched version v1 based on what we perceive the users need and our team will work on improving the product based on the feedback we receive.”

India is set to be the largest Facebook user base in the world by 2017. An app tailored for lower bandwidth signals that the social network is finally serious about India. It’s a place where much of its future growth will come from, after all.