On November 15, Facebook will unleash Project Titan to challenge Google's Gmail and other messaging solutions in the crowded market for Web-based e-mail clients. The Webmail client will include personal @facebook.com e-mail addresses for the social network's 500 million-plus users.Titan will also be integrated with Microsoft's Office Web Apps suite, allowing Facebook users to create and share Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents. This integration would be the evolution of Microsoft Docs.
While FBMail will compete with Yahoo Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and other countless messaging solutions - the main target here is GMail - possibly, the application which next to Google Search which gives Google it's dominance over Web. It brings in another battle among the tech-giants. Already, there is no love lost between the companies with Google stopping Facebook from importing contacts from GMail as Facebook did not allow the exporting it's contacts to Gmail. Google was right to expect Facebook to make it's contacts open in the same way as Google does. Facebook of course couldn't allow it. Facebook, of course circumvented this by creating a custom script.
The battle for Web dominance will definitely take another twist tomorrow. Google, of course will give a good battle - with the rumoured 'Google Me' in the works this battle will be long and hard.
The thing here is that Google are bound by their motto - Don't be Evil - they at least try not to. Facebook has no such qualms. With privacy leaks time and again for all uninformed users - the leaks are many. Reminds of twoface
"You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair."
Two-Face (The Dark Knight)
All this and Facebook is now banned in Saudi Arabia. A day after a Palestinian barber was arrested for registering atheistic sentiments on several Facebook accounts, Saudi Arabia has banned that social network outright. Link
I for one will not be moving to Facebook mail unless and until they provide a compelling reason or feauture for me to do so.
All of this bodes exciting times for the Web & people like me - grins