<p>It's pretty fascinating that Facebook and Google debuted new messaging paradigms within six weeks of each other. Facebook Home's one key feature is the prominent placement of its "chat heads" messaging alerts on the home screen. Google is launching a new messaging app particularly focused on group messaging. The debuts of these two initiatives fit within the same timeline: a sudden realization in 2012 that smartphone messaging had started evolving, followed by the feverish development of a new product that would finally launch in the spring of 2013. Facebook and Google are very much on the defense here. So what happened in 2012 that suddenly awakened these slumbering giants?</p><p>[More from BGR: Good news for Google Fiber: Broadcast TV audiences are cratering faster than ever]</p><p>Of course, there was the sheer volume explosion of WhatsApp, which shocked the app industry by vaulting from 1 billion messages in October 2011 to 10 billion in August 2012. This was the moment when it became obvious that WhatsApp was fundamentally different from Skype and was capturing entirely new segments of consumers.</p><p>[More from BGR: Nokia Lumia 928 review: Third time's the charm?]</p><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/messaging-apps-facebook-google-sign-fear-200544868.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.phonedog.com/2013/05/17/hey-text-message-grow-up/">Hey, text message: Grow up</a> (PhoneDog (blog))</p><p><a href="http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/cloud-essentials/public-cloud/5604/google-launches-cloud-based-syncing-service">Google launches cloud-based syncing service</a> (Cloud Pro)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dgiCMSxCvuKum7MuFsZDX4yDUHSpM&ned=us">4 additional articles.</a></p>