Facebook Revealing Project Spartan Next Week

New images have surfaced revealing a revamped Facebook mobile site with a built-in section for HTML5 apps.

TechCrunch has received both screenshots and confirmation that Facebook plans to reveal its secretive Project Spartan -- or rather, Facebook Platform -- next week. As previously reported, this will supposedly be an HTML5-based platform so that developers can bypass Apple's heavy taxation and push apps to iOS customers via the Safari browser. It also seems to be a direct competitor to Google's Chrome Web Store which offers HTML5-based apps and games exclusively within the Chrome browser and OS.

The screenshots appearing on Thursday supposedly derived from a Facebook mobile developers page that is now offline (but backed up on Scribd). They reveal a revamped mobile Facebook website loaded within the Safari browser on iOS. Along the top is an updated menu bar containg the standard Friends, Messages and Notifications icons, and another icon that will pull up HTML5 apps on a separate menu such as Flixter Mobile, Game Day the App and more.

"Over 350 million users access Facebook from a mobile device every month," Facebook stated on the now-removed developers page. "Facebook Platform lets you bring these users and their friends to your mobile apps, creating a more engaging and personalized experience for your users."

According to the site, the apps will use "authenticated referrals," a new authentication mode for Facebook applications that ensures all referral traffic from Facebook to the application is already connected with Facebook. This means visitors can load up the apps already "logged in" and with whatever data permissions the developer requested in the Required Permissions section. As an example, a user receives a notification to check out a specific app, the user clicks on the link, hits the Log In button, and then the app loads.

The page goes on to say that Facebook Platform enables developers of native iOS and Android apps to integrate with Facebook login and APIs "to create personalized experiences." Android even suppoets Single Sign-on which lets users sign into an app using their Facebook identity. "If they already signed into the Facebook Android app on thier device, they do not have to even type a username and password," Facebook said.

So far it seems that Facebook is working on an HTML5-based version of the social website for mobile devices that will also include a section for installing HTML5 apps. That said, developers will be able to create applications that should work on both iOS and Android -- possibly with very little issues stemming from fragmentation. That said, will Facebook be the next App Store for mobile devices?