( Time ) -- Facebook has started to roll out a new version of its Messenger app for Android that only requires a name and a phone number , not an actual Facebook account , to sign up . Although the new Facebook Messenger app is only available in a handful of countries for now -- Australia , India , Indonesia , South Africa and Venezuela -- it will eventually roll out to the United States and elsewhere , allowing users to chat with their phone contacts even if they 're not using Facebook . This news has set the tech world atwitter with proclamations that the new Messenger is an assault on the lowly text message ( including one such proclamation from Facebook itself ) . It 's a nice thought , at least . Given that a single text to your neighbor can cost more than a data transmission from Mars , who would n't relish the idea of wireless carriers getting their comeuppance ? In reality , though , standard SMS has a lot going for it , and will likely weather all kinds of assaults , especially one from Facebook . For one thing , Facebook Messenger faces the same adoption hurdle as other Internet-based messaging apps like WhatsApp and Viber : It requires a conscious decision not to use traditional SMS . With Facebook Messenger , you must first consider whether the recipient has Facebook installed , and is set up to receive notifications for new messages . Then , you must commit to using the Messenger app instead of your phone 's built-in SMS functionality . Once you do that , the conversation is locked into Facebook unless you have one of the select Android phones that can integrate regular text messages . That 's a lot to consider compared to the standard SMS , which is guaranteed to reach and alert the recipient as long as you have the right phone number . To truly threaten the text message , Facebook Messenger needs the kind of tight smartphone integration found in Apple 's iMessage , which automatically replaces standard text messages between any two iPhone users . That 's not really possible unless Facebook starts making its own smartphones . In lieu of tighter smartphone integration , Facebook simply has to compete with similar services that are already well-established . As Boy Genius Report points out , competitor WhatsApp is already a Top 5 messaging app in 141 countries and handles 10 billion messages per day . ( Compare that to 7.8 trillion regular text messages sent in 2011 , according to Portio Research , for an average of 21 billion messages per day . ) Competition is good , but in this case it means users will be fragmented across multiple services that ca n't talk to one another . Ideally , these competing services would somehow find a way to work with each other , so a Facebook user could send a message to someone who uses Whatsapp or Viber . It sounds crazy , but considering that wireless carriers found a way to make it work with SMS , tech companies should be able to figure out a solution . I acknowledge that the need for SMS alternatives is more desperate outside the United States , where the price per message can be cost-prohibitive . But in the land of all-you-can-eat messaging , if you really need to reach someone , SMS remains the most reliable option , and Facebook Messenger only poses a minor threat . & copy 2012 TIME , Inc. TIME is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Used with permission .
Facebook is rolling out a new version of its Messenger app for Android . App only requires a name and a phone number , not an actual Facebook account , to sign up . Some bloggers see the new Messenger app as an assault on the lowly text message . Comment: