| You're right - on a recent article, Facebook said it was explicitly trying to position their Messenger app as a meta-platform. http://uk.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-virtual-realit... "Messenger is trying to eat your smartphone Zuckerberg's "big regret" also helps explain Facebook's current strategy with Messenger. It spun out its messaging service into a standalone app in April 2015, and David Marcus, formerly of PayPal, is heading up these efforts. He's determined to make it into a platform in its own right. David Marcus FacebookEric Piermont/Getty ImagesDavid Marcus, Facebook's VP of Messaging Products. Also speaking at Web Summit, Marcus laid out a roadmap for the future of mobile that puts Messenger front-and-centre. Marcus wants companies to use message threads, rather than standalone threads, to communicate with their customers. Why download an app you'll only use once or twice when you can have a conversation with the company right there in Messenger, he reasons. "People don't want apps for every single business that you interact with," he said. They "want the ones on your homescreen and that's it." "When you have the chance to build a great communication within a conversation app ... just have a message within a nicely designed bubble ... [that's a] much nicer experience than an app." It's a "new generation of apps inside of threads." M, Facebook's new virtual assistant that operates straight out of Messenger, is part of this. It is powered by Facebook's AI tech, and is supplemented with human assistance when necessary. (It's only available to a small group of users right now.) The more it can do for you, the less you need to use other apps. The result is, of course, that Google and Apple lose out. Their grip on your phone weakens, as you eschew their app store in favour of Messenger threads. If Facebook gets its way, it won't own your mobile operating system — but it will control everything else." I haven't tried it, but WeChat seems to be ahead of Facebook and WhatsApp at the moment. However, FB does have a strong network effect. Interesting battle to watch. |