Facebook Home coming April 12 for recent Samsung, HTC Android phones

Facebook Home may be a bold ploy to help Facebook take over all Android phones — but for now, the company is focusing on the above devices.

Facebook Home will be available on April 12 for Samsung’s Galaxy S III, Galaxy S IV, and Galaxy Note II, as well as HTC’s One X+ and upcoming One smartphone, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced at the company’s media event today. If you own one of those devices, you’ll be able to install Facebook Home right from the Google Play store (Facebook will also include a helpful link within the latest version of its Android app).

Zuckerberg also mentioned that plenty of other companies were interested in implementing Facebook Home, including Samsung, Orange, Qualcomm, Huawei, Sony, ZTE, Lenovo, and Sony.

Facebook is also launching a “Facebook Home Program” to help other manufacturers implement the software. The Home Program will be a sign to consumers that they’re getting the best Home experience possible, Zuckerberg said.

It’s interesting that Google’s Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus phones aren’t included in the list of supported Home devices. That could be a sign Google isn’t exactly pleased about what Facebook Home represents — that Android can be so easily skinned that you forget it’s from Google. It’s similar to the identity problem Google faced with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, except now millions of people will be able to download Facebook Home to the phones they already own.