Flickr

I’m not here to drag investors into a spiral of negativity when pertaining to Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), but there’s an increasing probability that Facebook’s messenger service will face competition from Apple in the coming months. Since Apple, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) messaging service is due for a major upgrade in the next iOS update, the features overlap with the other messenger services (Snapchat and FB Messenger).

Since the impending reality of heightened competition should be looming over the heads of investors, I wanted to write an article offering greater clarity. If the rumor mill is correct, there’s a heightened possibility of Apple encroaching into some of the social verticals that both Facebook and Snapchat currently dominate.

iMessage features overlap and build upon competitors

Apple increased the size of emoji’s, which doesn’t sound like a significant update, but the size of the emoji is roughly comparable to Snapchat emoji’s, hence the recent trend in iMessage has been to rip and implement successful feature additions on competing social platforms. However, there were new evolutionary steps with iMessage that makes usage easier, as certain words or phrases can be converted into the relevant emoji upon the click of a button. So, if you happen to be talking about getting some pizza, or catching a movie, those key phrases can be converted into the visual emoji equivalent.

Apple also brought in features from the Apple Watch wherein a user can draw visual sketches and send them via iMessage. The haptic feedback may not be present on an iPhone, but the ability to send more elaborate messages, which may include pictures with text phrases on top, or the ability to send GIFs via an online store all reek of Snapchat or FB Messenger. Furthermore, Apple opened up iMessage to third-party developers so other apps can run via iMessage, which creates another ecosystem on top of iMessage that didn’t exist prior to the impending iOS update.