Earlier this month, we profiled Facebook apps for Android, Babbler and Bloo, created by third parties because Facebook has yet to create an app of its own. Now, Facebook is rumored to be launching an official app for Android phones. While the initial offering may be somewhat feature limited, it’s an important step nonetheless.

The app is built around Facebook’s Stream API, with updates and a tally of new items in your News Feed. Users will have full stream access, but no inbox as of yet. The app should be available from the Android Market, perhaps as soon as by the end of the week, according to TechCrunch, who says Google lent an engineer to help on development.

With more than 20 Android phones set to be introduced in the coming months, Android continues to slowly gain steam. Google was likely pressured by partners to make sure some version of Facebook exists for the platform. It will be interesting to see how many resources Facebook continues to invest in the app going forward.