Facebook takes on Google, Yahoo on email, messages

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Facebook trotted out an  all-in-one messaging tool today that pools users’ email,  instant and text messages, taking on Google Inc’s and Yahoo  Inc’s popular email platforms.
Addressing speculation the world’s largest social  networking site was planning a “Gmail-killer,” Facebook Chief  Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the new system will let  users own “facebook.com” addresses, but stressed it did not  stop at email.
It also lets users send instant and text messages in  addition to standard email and Facebook notes, he said.
“This is not an email killer. This is a messaging system  that includes email as one part of it,” Zuckerberg told  reporters at the swanky St. Regis hotel.
Zuckerberg, who said more than 350 million of Facebook’s  half-billion users now actively send and receive messages on  his website, did not see communications being email-based in  future.
While people will not stop using email immediately, more  and more will shift to an integrated, cross-platform mode of  communications such as Facebook, Zuckerberg argued.
More than 4 billion messages get sent everyday through  Facebook. Its new messaging platform will incorporate a number  of features, including an inbox devoted to a user’s friends and  contacts on Facebook, and another for other mail and messages.
Facebook and Google’s intensifying rivalry is expected to  play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Internet. The  industry is closely watching their pitched struggle for Web  surfers’ time online, advertising dollars, and increasingly  costly Silicon Valley talent.