TechCrunch today reports that MySpace is building a fully functional webmail product. Citing sources “with knowledge of the product,” the site reports that MySpace mail will be aimed at competing with the likes of Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. Not only that but once launched, MySpace mail will be the third largest webmail provider.

We’d like to say we saw this coming but, we really didn’t. The whole MySpace madness has subsided considerably. With Facebook gaining fast, it makes sense for MySpace to try something new. We’re just not all that sure that this will is enough for that extra boost.

That said, the way it's going about it, MySpace mail could actually see some use. According to TechCrunch, all MySpace users will be provided with a MySpace email address and while it’s not clear whether or not the username@myspace.com system will use the name you register with or your screen name, people are always more likely to use a service they don’t have to re-register for. Given that MySpace has 122 million active users, this would put the company in third place in the list of top webmail providors.

Apparently TC first got wind of the idea when the social networking site started moving employee email addresses from @myspace.com to @myspace-inc.com, something Yahoo! did in '97 when it was launching Yahoo! mail. What do you think about MySpace mail? Do you think it would see much use or do you think people will stick to Gmail or Hotmail?

Check out the full story here.