In a fresh bid to cash in on its massive user-base, Facebook will introduce a new App Center where users can buy games and other applications on the social networking site.
With over 900 million users worldwide, Facebook provides a platform for the software developers to sell their products on its social site, which will eventually claim 30 percent of the total sale. The app store will feature applications for web browsers, including iPhone, Android smartphones and PC, tablets as well.
The Facebook's new App store is being launched as the company is preparing for an initial public offering that would value them between $7 billion and $96 billion.
The popular networking site said that works are on to roll out the proposed app centre in the next few weeks.
Facebook is pulling out majority of its revenue from online ads and also collects fees when consumers purchase products from within the social apps, such as Zynga's Farmville.
However, these days Facebook's revenue is dipping despite having millions of users due to the increase in number of consumers accessing their profile from their hand phones, where the company provides limited ads.
In an amended prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Facebook said the popularity of mobile devices has caused its number of daily users to grow faster than the number of ads it is delivering.
Facebook described the number of mobile ads it has recently begun showing to users as "immaterial."
"Consumers will need to use Facebook Credits, the company's payment system, to purchase the apps and Facebook will take a 30 percent cut of the revenue as it does with in-app purchases," said the company's spokeswoman Malorie Lucich.
"Facebook is introducing the app service to give software developers additional options, but the company expects in-app purchases to remain more prevalent on the social network," added Lucich.
Apps ranging from social games to music services are popular activities on Facebook, of which about 200 of the apps that are available on the site have more than 1 million users.
Facebook said it will direct users to Apple's App Store or Google Inc's Play store to download the app, if a mobile app requires installation for the mobile device.
The App Center will showcase apps based on the quality scores that users give them and other data Facebook collects, such as how often and how long people use those apps.
Each user will see a different, customized version of the App Center, rather than one standard version of the App Center.
(With inputs from Reuters)
