In the past six months, more than 50 million people have downloaded Facebook?s mobile application from GetJar, which claims to be the second-largest applications store worldwide and second only to Apple?s iTunes.

With GetJar?s App Download Page (ADP) and Mobile Site Shortcut (MSS), consumers are able to download the application, giving them a fast and easy shortcut to access Facebook?s mobile Web site with a single click from their phone.

With more than 400 million users around the world, people are increasingly looking to stay connected through Facebook from their mobile device. GetJar claims to have helped bring the Facebook mobile experience to more than 50 million people regardless of their mobile platform, phone model or carrier.

Mobile Marketer?s Dan Butcher interviewed Patrick Mork, vice president of marketing at GetJar, San Mateo, CA. Here is what he had to say:

What is the significance of the 50-million-download mark?
The significance of the 50-million-download mark is twofold.

First, to our knowledge, this is the single largest amount of downloads for an app or brand ever made public from an app store.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, it's evidence that brands can easily and quickly grow their mobile Web presence on GetJar by using Application Download Page and Mobile Site Shortcuts, which has absolutely no cost to them.

It's a win-win for both parties.

Can you share demographics of the core audience that has downloaded it?
Sixty-one percent of GetJar's core demographic is 18-34 years of age, with roughly 65 percent of those being male in the U.S.

What challenges does GetJar address for Facebook? How were you able to achieve that size audience?
GetJar helped Facebook fill two critical gaps any brand faces when trying to get onto a consumers' handset.

First, by using ADP, GetJar gave Facebook a way to use their own mobile Web traffic and convert these consumers into app downloaders without the need for expensive, complex infrastructure.

By placing a link on the Facebook mobile page and redirecting Facebook users back to Facebook's App Download Page on GetJar, Facebook could leverage their own traffic and get their brand on users' handsets while taking advantage of GetJar's systems to auto-detect the users' handset and serve them the right app for their phone.

Other companies using ADP include Photobucket, Fandango, MocoSpace, OpenTable and Flirtomatic.

Second, by using Mobile Site Shortcuts, or MSS, GetJar made it possible for Facebook to have a mobile app that worked on virtually any phone, extending its mobile reach significantly.

In theory, the MSS is not an actual app, because it only activates a phone's native browser and directs the consumer to a pre-determined Web site. But to the consumer who may not understand this, a mobile site shortcut makes visiting Facebook's mobile site as easy as launching an app.

Some other companies having a MSS on GetJar include Yahoo, Microsoft, Fandango, Photobucket, MocoSpace, OpenTable, Citysearch and Google.

Why do some brands opt for an ADP while others opt for an MSS?
Application Download Pages are actually more involved to produce and generally require integration with a brand's pre-existing mobile download system and infrastructure to be useful.

Mobile Site Shortcuts are easy to create and are automatically created by GetJar once the brand uploads their site into GetJar's system.

Both services are free.

Facebook first implemented the MSS, which provided consumers with an app-like experience they could download on GetJar, independent of the device, operating system or carrier they used.

When Facebook added the ADP service, their weekly downloads increased by 10 times, since they were able to leverage their own traffic with a link on their site, which led consumers to the ADP hosted on GetJar, allowing consumers to download the MSS onto their phone.