Facebook unveils Paper, a Flipboard-style news reader app for iPhone

Facebook has announced the launch of its first news reader app, called Paper. It will be available for the iPhone in the US on February 3. Facebook says Paper is the first product from the Facebook Creative Labs, where it claims to be "crafting new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share."

The social networking giant had been rumoured to be readying the app earlier in January, and the unveiled app is exactly in line with earlier expectations, featuring a Flipboard-style layout. 
The newly-unveiled Paper is also the first of the new standalone apps from Facebook, new products in the vein of Messenger and Instagram that CEO Zuckerberg hinted at during Wednesday's earnings call - a Facebook Groups app is also expected.

The Facebook Paper app in many ways can replace the regular Facebook app, as it allows users to browse and interact with posts/ stories from their News Feed - the primary function of the regular app - in a brand new 'immersive design and fullscreen, distraction-free layout'. While all the functions of the main app aren't present, Paper's layout is certainly an attractive, high-bandwidth alternative.