Facebook?s new Messenger app could give mobile messaging applications such as BlackBerry Messenger and Apple?s forthcoming iMessage a run for their money.

Facebook has introduced Messenger, a new standalone mobile app that lets users send messages via notifications and texts. Users can reach friends on Facebook or anyone in their phone contacts by typing a name.

?Without doubt, Facebook Messenger has immediately become a leading contender in the mobile messaging applications market,? said Pamela Clark-Dickson, senior analyst for mobile content and applications at Informa Telecoms & Media, Westborough, MA.

?I believe that Apple may already be too late, with iMessage,? she said.

?Carriers are the only other players for whom Facebook Messenger does not necessarily represent a significant threat. Informa believes that this is because Facebook understands that it needs to work with the carriers in order to reach its customers on mobile.?

SMS traffic
The new app is an extension of Facebook messages, so all of a user?s conversations are in one place, such as texts, chats, emails and messages. Users can see a full history of all of their messages whether they are on a phone or on the Web.

Additionally, users can start group conversations and message everyone in the group at once. They can also add their location so the people they are messaging can find them on a map.
Photos can also be attached to messages.

Messenger is available to subscribers to download for free for both the iPhone and Android.

It is too soon to tell what impact Facebook Messenger will have on carriers? SMS traffic and revenues.

?It is possible that Facebook Messenger will contribute to the cannibalization of mobile operators? SMS traffic and revenues, but it may also, perversely, contribute to the growth in mobile operators? SMS traffic and revenues, because Messenger users will be able to send SMSes to their phonebook contacts from within the application,? Ms. Clark-Dickson said.

The difference between Facebook Messenger, BBM and the yet-to-be-launched iMessage is that Facebook Messenger is cross-platform.

As a result, Facebook Messenger will have a much larger addressable market than BBM and iMessage from the start.
One potential drawback of Facebook Messenger is that Facebook Mobile users will have to download and install Messenger as a separate application on their smart-phones.

?The application may not be appealing enough for existing Facebook Mobile users to do that en masse,? Ms. Clark-Dickson said.

Marketing opportunities
Facebook says the overall messaging experience will be faster with the Messenger application. It will also enable free messaging over IP.

?Facebook has said that it believes that a standalone messaging app will enable a quicker messaging experience for its mobile users, and that will definitely be seen as a pro by Facebook Mobile users who message a lot,? Ms. Clark-Dickson said.

The app could provide new opportunities for marketers in the mobile space. 

?The additional advertising inventory that Messenger represents could include splash screens on start-up of the application or banner ads at the top or the bottom of messaging screens, for example,? Ms. Clark-Dickson said.

?Facebook may also be able to sell location-based advertising with Messenger, since the group messaging capability includes location mapping,? she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York