Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s new messaging service for
Android devices, intended to supplant traditional text messaging, is not likely
to do that analysts said.
The new messenger service can be used by both members
and non-members of Facebook, which has positioned at as a service that can
replace short messaging service that phone owners use.
The messenger app is being primarily targeted at
emerging economies and will be released in countries such as India, Indonesia,
Australia, South Africa and Venezuela.
Analysts however said that the countries where the app
would be available were those where data network availability was patchy and
traditional messaging services would still remain popular.
The Messenger app is meant to challenge existing
carrier-based messaging protocols, which get in the way of true communication,
Peter Deng, Facebook's product manager for Messenger, said at the Le Web
conference in Paris.
"We have to give people more than the types of messaging
they have on their phones. With the SMS protocol, it's been around for about 20
years. It's designed for these old phones that we used to have," Deng
said. "They don't take advantage of all of the location features, the
touchscreen, the rich kind of communication, the picture-taking."
While carrier-based text messaging has grown - there
has been a 14 percent rise in SMS messages in 2011 from 2010, according to
Forrester - some small inroads have been made by other messaging services such
as that provided by social media networks.
Telecom operators lost US$8.7 billion in 2010 and
$13.9 billion in 2011 due to IP-based social messaging, U.K. market research
firm Ovum said.
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