On Friday, Tech Crunch reported that Facebook is building a fully featured webmail client, code named Project Titan, and they are now preparing to launch it.  Tech Crunch's source even went so far as to say some Facebook insider's are calling the project "the Gmail killer".

Moving into webmail makes a lot of sense for Facebook. They already have the user-base to help to service grow quickly, and their platform often has users logging in to check their Facebook account updates several times a day,  so adding email to their suite of options is a logical extension.  However, calling your application "the Gmail killer" is a bit premature.  Facebook's existing reach will certainly give Google some cause for concern,  but Gmail is a well developed product with its own large user-base, and that doesn't happen over night.

Even if Facebook's webmail comes to market on par with Gmail in terms of usability and functionality, there are many potential stumbling blocks along the road to e-mail dominance.  Primarily, one large issue I see is the fact that Facebook likes to completely rework their user interface on a fairly regular basis to what they feel is more optimized / user-friendly.  Sometimes this works out okay, sometimes it doesn't, but invariably there are large amounts of their user base who find this practice very irritating. There isn't really an alternative to Facebook, so users put up with it for the most part... but with so many choices for webmail available, will convenience win out over irritation? Only time will tell.

Another area, albeit a smaller market, is the business marketplace. More and more businesses are migrating from Microsoft Exchange and other email solutions to Google Apps premium. Speaking from the point of view that made the switch about 6 months ago, Google Apps is a fantastic platform for business mail and collaboration.  Not only is the product superior to the previous Microsoft Exchange server we had, but we've reduced our email costs by about 4/5ths.  In the coming years, I see Gmail becoming a major email provider for business, which is something that Facebook isn't equipped for nor likely even plans to do.

How will Facebook's Project Titan affect the webmail landscape? Hard to say; the Internet changes at lightspeed, but one thing's for sure... this new entry into webmail from Facebook is not something to be brushed aside and ignored by the current market leaders.