By now, every Facebook user with an iPhone probably has Joe Hewitt’s latest creation: Facebook for iPhone 3.0. It’s a beautiful application, with a totally revamped interface and functionality. Several noteworthy features were launched including a new home screen which will offer the ability to customize (i.e. adding boxes to the default start screen), a better ‘News Feed’ (a much more complete overview of status updates from your friends), video uploading capability, and even events, including the ability to RSVP.

But one feature gives proof that Joe and Facebook had us developers in mind. Facebook implemented a built-in web browser within the new app, that allows users to visit links from the news stream or their notifications tab. The hidden implication with this feature is that it includes links to applications, like Inigral’s Schools app, for instance. This is revolutionary because until today, our team (and everyone else I know) was under the impression that Facebook for iPhone does not support Facebook apps in any way. But we were wrong thanks to this handy-dandy feature update.

In our case with Schools, it’s a “full-integration,” as every feature within our app is accessible through the built-in web browser. The user experience is not ideal, but it is more than useful for students checking their class schedule on-the-go, receiving updates from their favorite school departments and organizations, discovering classmates on our hometown map, or even playing the name game, like below.

This workaround doesn’t work on every app however. Since Apple hasn’t supported flash on the iPhone yet, many apps aren’t functional when you visit them through the built-in web browser. Take for instance Serious Business‘ newest app, The Hierarchy. This game is one of the best designed games I’ve ever seen, with a really intuitive user flow that makes you not only feel like you’re in Facebook, but as if you’re becoming Jason Bourne right before your eyes. While beautiful when playing on the web (where it was meant to be accessed), it’s flash-heavy interface makes for very limited functionality within the iPhone app’s built-in web browser.

With that said, if you’re developing apps that aren’t flash-dependent, you should really look into this. It seems to be a way for us to offer our users the beginnings of a rich iPhone experience through our Facebook app.

Tony, who leads marketing and communications at Inigral, is trying to beat his top name game score on the iPhone thanks to Facebook.