Analyst: Facebook Home Hits 5 Million Users Internationally

Is Facebook FB Home a success or failure? According to AllThingsD's Mike Isaac, Facebook Home "isn't exactly going gangbusters." Isaac does not have any download or usage data to back up his claim. Instead, he is measuring the app's success by looking at the reviews. On its first day of release, 48 percent of Home users gave the app a one-star rating. As of today, the percentage of negative reviews is roughly the same. "Not an intuitive app," one user, Victoria Wiley, wrote in her review on Google Play. "Made my phone so frustratingly complicated to use that I uninstalled after just four or five hours. Unless major changes are made including an easy way to get to my home screen I will not reinstall." Another user, Jeremy Noah, said that Home was "good for Facebook-ophiles," but gave it a two-star rating. "No widgets, kinda clunky, and petty much just Facebook with access to your apps drawer," he wrote. "Meh, an unimpressive launcher compared to most others." On the other hand, Burrell Matthew (a user who said he does not use widgets), awarded Home with a five-star rating and said that it was a "very smooth launcher with great operability." All three of those users downloaded Home to a Samsung Galaxy S III. Down But Not Out While the new app may have received a significant number of negative reviews, at least one analyst believes that it is somewhat of a success. In a note to investors, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said that Home installations "exceeded probably five million within [the] first 60 hours." "More than 80 percent of Facebook Home installations happened on Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note," Chowdhry wrote. "Probably less than 10,000 HTC First [handsets] were sold in the first 60 hours. "Facebook Home has invoked a strong love-hate reaction from early users, [which] indicates [that it] will be extremely successful, driven by inverted funnel dynamics." Chowdhry is so confident in Home's success that he is maintaining his estimates, Equal-weight rating and $28 Price Target on Facebook. Isaac, meanwhile, is not an analyst -- but he provided his own rosy conclusion. "Facebook Home is a play for the international market, the developing nations where traditional computer access is spotty, where mobile phones are fast becoming the medium of choice to access the Web, and where carriers are perfectly content charging sky-high data and SMS fees to their customers," he wrote. "… So hate on, haters -- stateside users can eschew Facebook Home to their heart's content. We're not the ones Facebook is concerned with." Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ