Facebook's 'Gmail killer' Site Facebook's 'Gmail killer': Site set to launch its own email service to take on Google Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil a new Facebook email service Facebook is set to launch its own email service to rival Google's Gmail and Mircrosfot's Hotmail. The social networking site - which boasts more than 500 million users worldwide - will host a special event in San Francisco later today. According to technology website TechCrunch, Facebook will tonight unveil a full-fledged web email product, which is being referred to within Facebook as a 'Gmail-killer.' There are also rumours that all Facebook users will be given a 'facebook.com' email address as part of the new concept which is known as 'Project Titan'. At the moment Facebook users are able to contact one another by either posting on each other's wall or by Facebook's own internal messaging service. Project Titan is expected to be a revamp of the existing messaging as well as a fully functional ,stand-alone email client just like Gmail or Hotmail. Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum, said: An email service from Facebook makes a lot of sense. 'It has a huge base of 500 million users that already love to communicate and share, and Facebook is giving them richer ways to do this through virtual gifts, games, location and even voice thanks to the recent integration deal with Skype. 'Adding email to the mix is a logical step and Facebook could tap into user data to provide an attractive, highly personalised service. You would also expect it to push mobile features given its big move in this direction. ' The move will certainly alarm Facebook's nearest rivals such as Yahoo and Google. The press conference this evening in San Francisco comes amid an ongoing row between Google and Facebook. Last week, Google began blocking a Facebook feature that allows users to automatically import Gmail contact data into the social networking service. Google accused Facebook of siphoning up Google data without allowing for the automatic import and export of Facebook users' information. They are also increasingly vying for engineering talent in Silicon Valley. This week, Google internally announced plans to boost salaries by 10 percent, according to media reports, in a move viewed as an effort to staunch an exodus of engineers and managers to Facebook. 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 use profiles. The expected announcement by Facebook comes as former internet big-hitter AOL is opening the doors to its new web-based e-mail program, code-named Project Phoenix, for a limited number of users. Starting next year, anyone will be able to sign up for access to a beta test site. The Project Phoenix inbox page was designed to make it easier to fire off a quick email, text or instant message with just a few clicks on a 'quick bar' at the top of the page. People can also send short replies directly from the inbox page, without having to click on a message first. The new design displays thumbnails of recent photo attachments at a glance, and lets people toggle between several open e-mails at a time. When someone is reading an e-mail with pictures attached, the photos will also show up as thumbnails next to the message. Addresses in the body of the e-mail will trigger the system to display a map from AOL's Mapquest on the right-hand side, with the option to click for directions. Project Phoenix lets people link up their email accounts on services from Microsoft Yahoo and Google. In future versions, AOL also plans to pull in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn messages.
Facebook's 'Gmail killer': Site set to launch its own email service to take on Google Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil a new Facebook email service Facebook is set to launch its own email service to rival Google's Gmail and Mircrosfot's Hotmail. The social networking site - which boasts more than 500 million users worldwide - will host a special event in San Francisco later today. According to technology website TechCrunch, Facebook will tonight unveil a full-fledged web email product, which is being referred to within Facebook as a 'Gmail-killer.' There are also rumours that all Facebook users will be given a '
The press conference this evening in San Francisco comes amid an ongoing row between Google and Facebook. Last week, Google began blocking a Facebook feature that allows users to automatically import Gmail contact data into the social networking service. Google accused Facebook of siphoning up Google data without allowing for the automatic import and export of Facebook users' information. They are also increasingly vying for engineering talent in Silicon Valley. This week, Google internally announced plans to boost salaries by 10 percent, according to media reports, in a move viewed as an effort to staunch an exodus of engineers and managers to Facebook. 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 use profiles. The expected announcement by Facebook comes as former internet big-hitter AOL is opening the doors to its new web-based e-mail program, code-named Project Phoenix, for a limited number of users. Starting next year, anyone will be able to sign up for access to a beta test site. The Project Phoenix inbox page was designed to make it easier to fire off a quick email, text or instant message with just a few clicks on a 'quick bar' at the top of the page. People can also send short replies directly from the inbox page, without having to click on a message first. The new design displays thumbnails of recent photo attachments at a glance, and lets people toggle between several open e-mails at a time. When someone is reading an e-mail with pictures attached, the photos will also show up as thumbnails next to the message. Addresses in the body of the e-mail will trigger the system to display a map from AOL's Mapquest on the right-hand side, with the option to click for directions. Project Phoenix lets people link up their email accounts on services from Microsoft Yahoo and Google. In future versions, AOL also plans to pull in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn messages.
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