• TechCrunch, Wednesday, August 10, 2011 12:11 PM

Facebook just released a mobile application separate from its main app. What is it? Facebook Messenger, and it's a stand-alone app for iOS and Android. As TechCrunch puts it, "It essentially merges the Beluga product that Facebook acquired in February with their revamped Messages product." Why is Facebook so smart to launch FM as a separate app? "Speed and simplicity are key in the space," TechCrunch writes.

"The Messages product inside of the current Facebook apps offered neither." As such, "It's yet another long-term thorn in the side of SMS." The move also spells trouble the Apple's soon-to-launch iMessage service, which will be a part of the default SMS application in iOS 5. "That gives it a huge leg up, obviously," TechCrunch notes.

"But it's also potentially going to be harder to use than Facebook's new Messenger." Why? Because iMessage, like FaceTime, relies on user email addresses to work. Meanwhile, Facebook Messenger is also expected to handle group messaging better than iMessage.

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