Facebook (S FB) is releasing a few more details about what's going on in its FbStart program, which was designed to help jump start careers of aspiring mobile developers. The program, launched at the tail end of April during Facebook's F8 developers conference, has brought in over 500 startup applicants scattered across 63 countries in a little over a month, Facebook claimed in a blog post.
Building a vibrant mobile developer ecosystem is important for Facebook, as exemplified by last year's acquisition of Parse, a mobile application development specialist. Facebook has been in the spotlight regarding how the company handles the transition from the desktop era to the mobile era, so it's interesting to see how Facebook comes up with ways to strike the attention of mobile developers. And, Facebook is not alone in this space as Amazon, Microsoft and Google have all been working on their own ways to build mobile armies.
The social networking giant also added tech companies Braintree, Appmethod and Get Satisfaction as program partners who will join the ranks of Adobe(S ADBE), MailChimp and Quip. FbStart program partners provide FbStart program winners with tools "worth up to $40,000" to help get their mobile app companies off the ground.
To be considered for the FbStart program, applicants need to have a mobile app that has been available for at least 30 days in the Apple or Google Play app stores.
Once a startup qualifies and is accepted, it wins a package of development goodies offered by Facebook and its partners based on what development track the startup is a part of: the Bootstrap track for startups that have recently launched and the Accelerate track for more established startups that show they can keep on growing.
Some of the tools available for FbStart winners include ad support from Facebook's Preferred Marketing Developers, Adobe Creative Cloud, email support from MailChimp and a mobile payment platform courtesy of Braintree.
Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Shutterstock user dolphfyn.