According to info on George Hotz's Facebook profile, the 21-year-old hacker who designed the iPhone and Playstation unlocking system has been working in Palo Alto for Zuckerberg's social network for about a month.
After having embarrassed giants such as Apple and Sony, while giving all users the possibility to install all kinds of software on their devices without the prior approval of the two companies, Hotz could be the key man in the challenge launched by Facebook to Apple.
In fact, Zuckenberg has already put his development team to work to create an alternative web store to the Apple AppStore. The code name is "Project Spartan" and is a platform based entirely on HTML5 initially designed for the Apple browser (Safari).
In essence, Zuckenberg hopes to exploit devices such as the iPhone and iPad to let users accustomed to the Apple store discover the existence of a fully managed market within a Facebook application.
According to TechCrunch, one of the most popular technology blogs in the US, "Facebook will never admit it, but those close to the project believe that the intention is very clear: to use Apple terminals against the company to break the dominance it has over the distribution of applications mobile. With around 700 million users, Facebook feels in a position to address the App Store's distribution mechanism.
With Project Spartan, web applications would therefore be developed that can be used directly from the social network, effectively "bypassing" the passage through the App Store. In the latter activity it must be remembered that the young Hotz has already proved to be a master. Does the circle close?
