Google won't retire Hangouts after Allo launch, plans two-front attack against Apple iMessage

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2016
Google has announced it will hang onto its established Hangouts chat service despite the upcoming arrival of Allo, leveraging both apps to reach audiences with capabilities that are not yet provided by Apple's competing iMessage.




Google's existing messaging app, Hangouts, will continue to exist even after the launch of Allo, the search giant revealed in a statement to Business Insider this week. This despite the fact that part of Allo's user base, as well as its basic functionality, overlap with the well-established Hangouts service.

Armed with both messaging clients, Google now hopes to reach new audiences --?particularly the kind that use services like Facebook's WhatsApp, Allo's most similar competitor. While Allo will remain limited to iOS and Android, Hangouts will stand alone, continuing to be a more traditional chat client with distinguishing features, including desktop support for Mac, PC, and Google's own Chrome OS.

Allo was announced by Google on Wednesday at the company's annual I/O conference, alongside a new video chat client dubbed Duo. Together, they will both compete with Apple's iMessage and FaceTime platforms when they launch on iOS and Android this summer.

In a statement, Google said it will "continue to invest in Hangouts," suggesting the company has no plans to gradually sunset the legacy service. Google says its reasearch has found that people tend to use more than one messaging app, which it has used to justify keeping both Allo and Hangouts available as standalone products.




Both Hangouts and Allo offer instant messaging and sharing of photos, emojis and stickers. Hangouts, however, integrates with Google's For Work products that are geared towards business audiences, and it also works seamlessly with Gmail and Docs.

Like WhatsApp, Hangouts and Allo will reach audiences on iOS and Android, while iMessage only serves Apple users. With iMessage alone, users cannot send multimedia content to users who are not on Apple hardware.

With features for more expressive communication and font resizing, Allo provides a number of similar capabilities to Facebook's WhatsApp. Allo goes beyond, however, by integrating Google services to provide "smart replies" and encourages users to chat with its built-in Google AI assistant.

Meanwhile, iMessage does not provide any of these features or search capabilities, and Apple thus far has shown little interest in competing more directly with the likes of WhatsApp.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Right, because as we all know, the best way to win against an opponent is to run two options against him...


  • Reply 2 of 26
    JschaeffJschaeff Posts: 1member
    I just don't get the strategy here. Wouldn't this be more confusing to the consumer? Then again, what do I know?
    tallest skiljbdragondasanman69
  • Reply 3 of 26
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    I just literally laughed out loud after reading the title.
    tallest skiljkichlinepatchythepirate
  • Reply 4 of 26
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,485member
    Taking a page from the Samsung playbook. Throw everything at the wall, and see what sticks. 
    tallest skiljbdragoncali
  • Reply 5 of 26
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    How can his be an attack against iMessage when it's not even the most used IM in the world? Until iMessage is cross platform it'll never be the most used and you'll always have to have other messaging apps if you communicate with people outside the U.S..
    SnRacalibrakkendasanman69
  • Reply 6 of 26
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    This is the like the 4th active messaging app that Google has. "Two-front attack"? What a strange framing. Maybe Google should lunch 10 new messaging apps, so they can have a "10-front" attack? No way Apple could survive that, right? Jesus. Oh, and Allo is a privacy/security nightmare. http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/19/why-google-cant-stop-making-messaging-apps/ http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dont-use-google-allo
    jbdragoncalipatchythepiratebrakken
  • Reply 7 of 26
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    How can his be an attack against iMessage when it's not even the most used IM in the world? Until iMessage is cross platform it'll never be the most used and you'll always have to have other messaging apps if you communicate with people outside the U.S..
    Agreed. If anything it's Facebook with Messenger and WhatsApp. It's simply the author's opinion that it's somehow "attacking" Apple. It's not IMHO. 
    edited May 2016
  • Reply 8 of 26
    SnRaSnRa Posts: 65member
    How can his be an attack against iMessage when it's not even the most used IM in the world? Until iMessage is cross platform it'll never be the most used and you'll always have to have other messaging apps if you communicate with people outside the U.S..
    Exactly. Given the functionality and features, this is clearly going against messaging apps like WhatsApp.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    gatorguy said:
    How can his be an attack against iMessage when it's not even the most used IM in the world? Until iMessage is cross platform it'll never be the most used and you'll always have to have other messaging apps if you communicate with people outside the U.S..
    Agreed. If anything it's Facebook with Messenger and WhatsApp. It's simply the author's opinion that it's somehow "attacking" Apple. It's not IMHO. 
    Facebook Messenger = Hangouts
    WhatsApp = Allo
    Youtube Messenger = Instagram DM
    Facebook Groups = Spaces
    Facebook = Google+
    Instagram = Youtube
    Youtube connect = Facebook Live

    Why is this so confusing to people? No one is saying Facebook should fix their messaging or social network mess. When you are aiming to be a global player you cant use one product to serve the next billion people or billions of users period. Googles competitor is Facebook and Amazon not Apple. Google I/O 2016 was about protecting their turf against Amazon and Facebook.


  • Reply 10 of 26
    NemWanNemWan Posts: 118member
    Allo offers end-to-end encryption as an OPTION. Not on by default. Privacy fail.
    calitallest skil
  • Reply 11 of 26
    kbwkbw Posts: 2member
    Actually it would be a (ridiculous) THREE-PRONGED attack, because Google also has this other odd duplicative app already called "Messenger".
  • Reply 12 of 26
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    But but but my Twitter feed is full of tech analysts digging Apple's grave because of what a Google announced at I/O.
    cali
  • Reply 13 of 26
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    gatorguy said:
    Agreed. If anything it's Facebook with Messenger and WhatsApp. It's simply the author's opinion that it's somehow "attacking" Apple. It's not IMHO. 
    Facebook Messenger = Hangouts
    WhatsApp = Allo
    Youtube Messenger = Instagram DM
    Facebook Groups = Spaces
    Facebook = Google+
    Instagram = Youtube
    Youtube connect = Facebook Live

    Why is this so confusing to people? No one is saying Facebook should fix their messaging or social network mess. When you are aiming to be a global player you cant use one product to serve the next billion people or billions of users period. Googles competitor is Facebook and Amazon not Apple. Google I/O 2016 was about protecting their turf against Amazon and Facebook.



    Except it isn't Goog's turf. This is just Goog trying to steal someone else's pie like usual.
  • Reply 14 of 26

    Like WhatsApp, Hangouts and Allo will reach audiences on iOS and Android, while iMessage only serves Apple users. With iMessage alone, users cannot send multimedia content to users who are not on Apple hardware.

    That is strange, because I can send MMS messages (images, video, audio) to Android phones all the time. I guess I must have been the one special person who can send multimedia content to others....
  • Reply 15 of 26
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    That is strange, because I can send MMS messages (images, video, audio) to Android phones all the time. I guess I must have been the one special person who can send multimedia content to others....
    iMessage is iMessage. That Messages in iOS also handles SMS/MMS is not what it was saying.

    It’s confusing, yeah.
  • Reply 16 of 26
    VisualSeedVisualSeed Posts: 217member
    I think Goolge misunderstood the strategy of "Divide & Conquer"
    patchythepiratebrakken
  • Reply 17 of 26
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Two half baked POS doesn't equal a full product; thanks for playing though there Googly boy.
    tallest skil
  • Reply 18 of 26
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    kbw said:
    Actually it would be a (ridiculous) THREE-PRONGED attack, because Google also has this other odd duplicative app already called "Messenger".
    Maybe if they parachuted some crap behind "enemy" lines they'd actually get somewhere... Oh, they already did...
  • Reply 19 of 26
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    slurpy said:
    This is the like the 4th active messaging app that Google has. "Two-front attack"? What a strange framing. Maybe Google should lunch 10 new messaging apps, so they can have a "10-front" attack? No way Apple could survive that, right? Jesus. Oh, and Allo is a privacy/security nightmare. http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/19/why-google-cant-stop-making-messaging-apps/ http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dont-use-google-allo
    Man, that's funny :-). Google has a compulsion to create sieve like communication apps (probably because the concept of privacy is alien to them), maybe they should get help for that.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    cali said:
    Facebook Messenger = Hangouts
    WhatsApp = Allo
    Youtube Messenger = Instagram DM
    Facebook Groups = Spaces
    Facebook = Google+
    Instagram = Youtube
    Youtube connect = Facebook Live

    Why is this so confusing to people? No one is saying Facebook should fix their messaging or social network mess. When you are aiming to be a global player you cant use one product to serve the next billion people or billions of users period. Googles competitor is Facebook and Amazon not Apple. Google I/O 2016 was about protecting their turf against Amazon and Facebook.



    Except it isn't Goog's turf. This is just Goog trying to steal someone else's pie like usual.
    So just like Apple steals someone else's pie when they enter a new market like usual? What you said doesn't really make sense.
    dasanman69
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