Google Meet video conferencing app goes live on iOS, pulled from App Store

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in iPhone
A new video conferencing service for business users from Google called Meet has partially gone live before an official launch, with an iOS app for the enterprise-focused meeting tool briefly appearing in the App Store before being pulled.




Meet by Google Hangouts, the full title included in the App Store listing, is meant to be a business-oriented version of Google's existing Hangouts platform, reports TechCrunch. As with Hangouts, Meet allows users to make video calls with each other and in groups, though it boosts the participant limit up from 10 in Hangouts to 30 users.

Integrating with G Suite versions of Gmail and Google Calendar, the app will show a list of scheduled meetings and participants, with a "join" button connecting users to the meeting, and options to mute and turn off the video when connected. For larger conferences, a main video window exists at the top of the screen, with a list of participants with smaller chat windows underneath.

One major business-oriented feature is the ability to use dial-in numbers to access the meeting, allowing those without a suitable internet connection to call in. Dial-in numbers will only be available to G Suite Enterprise Edition customers.

While the iOS app was briefly available in the App Store before being removed, Google has not performed a similar vanishing act for the web interface. It is possible to log into the web version through a browser, with visitors greeted by a list of calendar appointments, the option to enter a meeting code, and a clock in a simplistic interface.

So far, it appears that only the iOS and web versions of Meet have surfaced, and though an Android app is likely to launch at some point, it has yet to make an appearance. For the moment, the G Suite product site does not mention Meet, but it is likely to replace Hangouts on the subscription-based service.

Google warned developers in January that it was shuttering its Google+ Hangouts API on April 25 in order to "focus on enterprise use cases." It is unclear if this is a sign Google is considering closing Hangouts for consumer use entirely, but following the launch of the Allo and Duo messaging and chat services last year, Google advised it was continuing "to invest in Hangouts."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    So Google is going after the business world via IOS, does that mean more business users are on IOS than Android.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    maestro64 said:
    So Google is going after the business world via IOS, does that mean more business users are on IOS than Android.
    It's an interesting question. I read a while back that Good was saying iOS was declining in business use while android was gaining, based on installations of their Good for Enterprise app.  Around the same time the company my wife works for stopped using Good for Enterprise in favor of using native support for email built into iOS. However, that is only on company assigned hardware. For personal phones they use Boxer to access work email. 

    The company she works for has deployed tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of iPhones and is only planning to increase their usage as they build out their own customs apps for use by more employees in the field. 

    Based on that one scenario I find it hard to go by the usage numbers stated by Good. Just because they are seeing a decline doesn't necessarily mean iOS use is falling, so there seems to be a good chance that Google knows iOS is a more prominent platform in business than android. 
    lolliverRayz2016netmage
  • Reply 3 of 9
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    ihatescreennames said:
    ...so there seems to be a good chance that Google knows iOS is a more prominent platform in business than android. 
    Just because the Meet iOS app was accidentally released doesn't mean anything about Google's thinking regarding the prominence of iOS in business. There is a 100% chance that there will be an Android app as well. There is already a placeholder page for the web app, (Chrome only). As with almost everything else that Google does, they will seek to make Meet ubiquitous. 
  • Reply 4 of 9
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Google: "We voluntarily pulled the app because we discovered we had misspelled the app name. It has been changed to 'Google Meat'."
  • Reply 5 of 9
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    They are missing the most important piece of information...cost.

    There are tons of meeting apps out there.  The ability to dial (old school) into the meeting is definitely a plus.  

    Being able to record and replay meetings is also a must.  If it has the ability to post to a business (semi private) YouTube account, that would be the value add, enough to make it interesting.

    Google has jumped around so much in this space it's hard to trust them (adding and discontinuing offerings).  Hopefully they'll get it right this time...  

    If they force users to log in using a Google Account that's a deal breaker.  It's fine to require that of the moderator(s) but it has to be as easy as following an email link, and maybe entering a passcode.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    volcan said:
    ihatescreennames said:
    ...so there seems to be a good chance that Google knows iOS is a more prominent platform in business than android. 
    Just because the Meet iOS app was accidentally released doesn't mean anything about Google's thinking regarding the prominence of iOS in business. There is a 100% chance that there will be an Android app as well. There is already a placeholder page for the web app, (Chrome only). As with almost everything else that Google does, they will seek to make Meet ubiquitous. 
    Of course there will be an android version.  The iOS app is what popped up first, though. Don't developers tend to launch on iOS first since it's more likely to get traction that way? And isn't it possible that iOS is more strongly represented in business so Google might want to capitalize on that initially?

    And just because they might seek to make Meet ubiquitous doesn't mean it will be. There have been plenty of Google efforts in the past that they likely wanted to become ubiquitous that didn't really end up that way, like Google+. 
  • Reply 7 of 9
    brakkenbrakken Posts: 687member
    Dear goog: please try 'development' rather than 'divestment'.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    ihatescreennames said:
    Of course there will be an android version.  The iOS app is what popped up first, though. Don't developers tend to launch on iOS first since it's more likely to get traction that way? And isn't it possible that iOS is more strongly represented in business so Google might want to capitalize on that initially?
    I think they will launch all three versions web, iOS and Android at the same time next week at some business communication meeting in SF they are attending.
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