Or they simply don't prioritize mobile. As has been extensively documented, they make virtually no revenue off of mobile use and see no easy way to improve that situation in the future. They're stuck in a situation where a great mobile experience is a near-term harm to revenue.
That doesn't seem right. Facebook has an increasing user base focused on mobile, their main priority for the moment has to be monetizing mobile. It's not a simple solution but it's a long standing problem that they've recognized.
Mark Zuckerberg notes the huge potential in revenue from mobile here:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/zuckerberg-says-on-mobile-w...
I don't think those arguments contradict. I'm saying that in the short term, more mobile users means less money for the simple reason that mobile users aren't checking Farmville or reading ads. Zuckerberg might note a "potential" for revenue in mobile but he's not getting any today. (Quick google turned up this link to that effect, there are lots of stories like this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/07/27/fac...)
So in the short term, a better mobile experience hurts, not helps, FB's bottom line. So they'll likely be looking at spending their development resources elsewhere.
> Zuckerberg might note a "potential" for revenue in mobile but he's not getting any today.
This isn't true any more. The new version of the Facebook iOS app includes sponsored "your friend liked [brand]" callouts periodically in the news feed.
Except they have those same posts on the desktop version in addition to farmville and normal ads. That's even ignoring the fact that mobile ads are worth way less than desktop ones since people aren't really as engaged on mobile, and aren't likely to type in their credit card while they are on a bus.
