Facebook is expected to launch a new messaging system seen as a challenge to Google’s Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail.
The giant social network – which boasts more than 500 million users worldwide – will host a special event in San Francisco on Monday. Unconfirmed reports suggest Facebook could announce its own e-mail address – @facebook.com – or even a fully-fledged web-based e-mail system.
Google-Facebook rivalry has increased recently amid a series of disputes. Google has banned Facebook from importing its users’ e-mail contacts, a move it says it made because Facebook refused to allow the export of contact and friend data from within user profiles.
In reply, Facebook enabled a workaround that let users save their Google contacts to their computers before importing them into Facebook.
‘Treasure trove’
According to a report on popular technology blog Techcrunch, Facebook’s new venture – codenamed Project Titan – is being dubbed a “Gmail killer”. It suggests that Facebook is preparing to unveil a fully-fledged e-mail service.
Facebook’s 500 million-strong user base means that any e-mail system it runs could quickly dwarf other major players in the market, including AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo as well as Google.
Continues at: BBC News – Facebook expected to launch ‘Gmail rival’.
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