Sony Ericsson Announces Integration Of Facebook's 'Single Sign On' Across All Android Phones

In an industry first, Sony Ericsson Strategic Business Developer Martin Essl just announced that Sony Ericsson will integrate Facebook’s Single Sign On system across all its Android phones in the next couple of months. Launched in December, Single Sign On is like Facebook Connect for mobile apps, removing friction because it allows you to log into all apps that use Facebook Connect just by logging into one.

Essl did not go into the specifics of the integration but revealed that the Facebook app for Android will come preloaded on all phones and there will be an (optional) initial walk through process for Single Sign On as part of the phone setup. Essl also said there would be additional integrations beyond what the Facebook app can already do.

“Sony Ericsson’s core values are entertainment, communication and we strongly want to see communication as entertainment by deeper integration with Facebook,” says Essl.

Connecting mobile and social is a huge thing theme here at the Inside Social Apps conference and panel moderator Mattheus Krykowski hinted at this announcement at the beginning of the talk by affirming that “the most important thing Facebook did is Single Sign On” because it offers easy accessibility of the social graph on mobile.

Being able to easily import your friends contact information into your phone is becoming a mobile game changer and Sony Ericcsson’s move to adopt Single Sign On for Android is subtle but bold, as Facebook nears 600 million users (1/10 of the world) the solution to this problem will be increasingly one sided.

Other panelists, like Storm 8 founder Anil Dharni, expressed doubts, holding that the Single Sign On system was still “in its infancy.”