Facebook’s new app called Slingshot was posted to Apple’s app store by mistake on Monday. The app was released briefly in the App Store in a few countries- New Zealand, Australia, Russia and India-so, iphone users of those countries might have come across this app. It appeared on the App Store for a limited time, before it was taken down by Facebook, TechCrunch reports.
Facebook spokesperson says
We accidentally released a version of Slingshot, a new app we’re working on. With Slingshot, you’ll be able to share everyday moments with lots of people at once. It’ll be ready soon and we’re excited for you to try it out.
Like SnapChat, Facebook’s Slingshot lets users to share videos and photos which disappear after they have been swiped.
This is not the first time Facebook has tried taking on Snapchat. Back in 2012, it launched a service called Poke. But it failed to take off and was recently taken off the App Store.
Stepping on Snapchat toes is exactly Facebook’s plan, analysts say. After Snapchat refused Facebook’s offer of $3 billion to acquire the start-up in 2013, Facebook has continued its efforts to take hold of the private messaging market. According to Brian Nowak senior analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group,
going more into messaging is just another product extension. Facebook wants to remain the go to place in social media – just like it did with Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Verge is also reporting that Slingshot is likely the second app to come from a group of small teams that are working on Facebook’s smaller projects, a group that calls itself Facebook’s Creative Labs skunkworks division. The first app launched by the skunkworks division was news-reading app Paper that launched a few months ago.
Facebook has not indicated exactly when Slingshot will officially launch.