Facebook is set to launch its latest Google-taunting product on Monday: the long-anticipated Facebook email system.
The launch of an @facebook.com email is not itself a great surprise — the existence of a secret project officially known as Project Titan and unofficially as "Gmail killer" has been circulating since February.
But tech industry analysts believe that a Facebook email system, coupled to its popular photo and events programs, could become a comprehensive competitor to Gmail.
If Mark Zuckerberg’s firm launches a Facebook search engine that prioritises results around the known preferences of a user's circle, then the commercial potential of social networking would be extended.
Google has more than two-thirds of the search market, and there is little doubt it is taking seriously the threat of Facebook, which has more than 500 million members but lacks business-orientated, revenue-generating services. gns