A few weeks ago, there were rumors that Google Allo and Duo could be the killers of the famous Google Hangouts. Well, this will not be happening as the search engine giant has ideas in plan.
At the time of this writing, Google Duo is already rolling out to the masses across the globe. However, it is currently not available to everyone, even for some who had already pre-registered for the app, however, this status should be changing very soon.
In case you are not aware, Google Allo and Duo were launched at the I/O 2016 event. The former app is a messaging-based platform while the latter is meant for video calling services. This will be the first time these two apps are coming to such a highly competitive market and given what they have to offer, it is obvious that they are vying for the same market as Google Hangouts, the company’s all-in-one communication platform. Furthermore, since both Google Allo and Duo are connected to one’s phone number, it is easy to say that the apps are here to compete with the elephants in the house – WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
With the release of Google Allo imminent, the company seems to be ready to make some tough calls. Apparently, users of Google Plus’ Hangouts on Air are no longer access this service, instead, they are being redirected to YouTube Live. It gets even more interesting as a recent report further claims that Google is planning to focus Hangouts on its enterprise clients as soon as Allo and Duo are out.
According to Google, Hangouts has been more successful as an enterprise app than as a mainstream consumer app. As a result, the app will now be focusing to improve the productivity aspect of it while leaving behind the simple messaging and video calling services for the incoming Google Allo and Duo. In fact, these two apps have their focus on mobile-first and they come without PC versions, which is the case of Hangouts. Furthermore, their simplistic nature is further cemented by the fact that they have nothing to do with your Google account, but this means you won’t be getting the full Google experience.
Google Hangouts has been on numerous occasions labeled as an app that does everything, but is not really good at doing anything. But after a while, Google seems to have found what Hangouts is good at doing. Still, it will take time for the company to convince some die-hard Hangouts users to shift to the new Google Allo and Duo, especially since there is the installation of two more apps that do what one app – Hangouts – can do, probably even much better.
If Google Allo and Duo succeed where Hangouts failed, the story could all be different. But for now, be rest assured that Google Hangouts is still going nowhere.
Until the new kids can handle Google Voice like Hangouts, they are non-starters for my family.