Facebook introduces separate Messenger app for iPhone and Android

It isn’t clear if its recently acquired group messaging firm, Beluga , had anything to do with it or not, but Facebook has branched out further into the increasingly crowded messaging space today with the announcement of a separate Facebook Messenger app. Available for iPhone and Android, the app allows you to send messages on to individual friends or groups, which they’ll in fact receive instantly (a la BBM, Huddle for Google+, and Apple’s forthcoming iMessage). You’re also ready to share your location in case you choose, and fasten photos on your messages, however the app is otherwise streamlined and barebones — which Facebook says is barely the purpose. We aren’t seeing the app in either the Android Market or App Store just yet, but it’s said to be rolling out today.