Sign Up for Messenger, Without a Facebook Account

[bill]

https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/06/sign-up-for-messenger-without-a-facebook-account/ [newsroom.fb.com]

Sign Up for Messenger, Without a Facebook Account

With this update, more people can enjoy all the features that are available on Messenger – including photos, videos, group chats, voice and video calling, stickers and more. All you need is a phone number.

[engine]

It appears it's rolling out only for Canada, the United States, Peru or Venezuela at the moment. An interesting choice of countries beyond US and Canada.

[mikhailblaze]

They should target South East Asia - there are a hundred million FB users in the region. That being said, wouldn't this pit Messenger against services like Viberr and WeChat?