Facebook is set to take on Hotmail and Google’s Gmail when they introduce a new Web-based email service on Monday night Australian time.
The email service will, over time, integrate Facebook features like photos, events and local deals, and prioritise emails based on the strength of social connections with various contacts.
The service which is already being dubbed a “Gmail killer,” provide users the option of opening an email account with an @facebook.com address.
That Facebook would refer to the rumored email service as a “Gmail killer” is worth noting in light of the recent dispute between Google (NASD: GOOG) and Facebook over email contacts.
After Google stopped allowing Facebook to access a user’s Gmail contacts to help build their Facebook friend lists — due to what it called Facebook’s refusal to share data with third parties — Facebook created a technological workaround that restored access to Gmail contacts.
Google did not block the workaround, but is now prompting Facebook members using the workaround with the option of filing a complaint over the Facebook’s “data protecionism”.
