• Network World, Friday, May 13, 2011 12:02 PM

Talk about an intimate relationship. According to a new survey from Ericsson, 35% of Android and iPhone owners in the U.S. use mobile apps like Facebook before even getting out of bed. As Network World points out, the most popular in-bed activity is accessing social networks, and the most popular application is Facebook.

In total, Facebook has over 250 million active users accessing the site through their mobile devices, according to its own statistics. Smartphone vendors are trying to capitalize on that success with tighter Facebook integration, in an effort to differentiate their products, reports Network World, citing comments from Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham.

In one example, HTC launched the Android-based ChaCha and Salsa, which have a dedicated Facebook button. INQ and Sony Ericsson, meanwhile also improved Facebook integration on some of their smartphones. "In the next year, we'll see more phone makers doing the same, but then they will have to find other ways to make their products stick out," Cunningham said.

Read the whole story at Network World »