Why didn't they just update hangouts? I actually use hangouts for video calls with relative frequency, and I wish it was better adapted to changes in network speed like they say Duo is. I think it would be better if "Duo" was just integrated into hangouts as an update. I like hangouts because it allows me to use one app for voice, text and video.
My guess is Duo will be like Inbox competing with gmail. I am guessing here but I think Google is on to something around innovation. They are launching innovative future facing apps without the constraints of legacy systems. They will use this approach to figure out which features work and back port them into their legacy apps. Not a bad approach if it works.
But this requires you and all your friends to sign up to yet another system, with yet another account. "Try this app, at has some features that may or may not make it into Hangouts" is not a great sell for my friends.
True, but with Android's market share, it's pretty compelling to be able to do a "FaceTime" with anyone. That's the larger opportunity.
Many people have iPhones because of FaceTime. If Google can show that you can Duo anyone and it works as well, then they may switch, perhaps even to their very own Nexus devices.
I'm not sure I personally like this app because I'm on Android and I used to have an excuse to not FaceTime friends and family, haha. If they discover this Duo, I may get pressured.
There are over 1.4B Android devices worldwide. Over 13% are on the latest version. New Samsung device sales are strong. They own search and their app store.
How is that not a big advantage? Sure it's overdue, but they sold over 1.4B devices without it. It makes their offering more compelling to iOS users who've come to expect FaceTime.
I think the point of Duo isn't to require a signup. Your phone number is the only thing required which lowers the barrier.
You still have to download it of course..
It's basically competition to WhatsApp, several years late. WhatsApp solved the messaging for masses, non-technical folks, parents and grandparents. Which is why its so popular.
my entire family and friends circle runs on WhatsApp. Photo sharing, video sharing, voice calls, video calls ... anything you can think of. And it does a good job, really good job. I have never interacted with WhatsApp and felt frustrated or lost.
The lack of desktop interface didnt feel like losing something becasue it was never there to start with.
given Google's history, I don't trust them to do a decent UI that works for everyone or the longevity.
You could also say that Google search was a few years too late because Yahoo! already solved that problem. Obviously they think they can do it better and have the resources to test that
The network effect is portable when the identities are preserved across products. For example, Facebook's separating out of FB Messenger was done while preserving the already built-up network effect.
I would argue that its already not working. I remember a time when everybody I knew went to google for communications services. After a few years of domination Google started competing with itself and suddenly those of us who were willing to change found ourselves alone.
My guess it's an independent team inside Google decided "let's make a better facetime" and starting from scratch was easier than wrapping their heads around a several years old codebase.
Seriously. The entire Google Hangouts experience is extremely unfriendly and difficult to use. It's a great service, but the UX is awful. It's hard to get any non-technical person into a Hangouts call for the first time.
AndroidPolice has an article today[1] that Hangouts has failed as an all-in-one messaging platform. They're going to focus it in on the enterprise - where usage is much more prevalent, apparently - whatever that means.
Hangouts is likely to become a Google Apps Slack competitor, I guess.
Also, the security aspect: Hangouts would get a bunch of backlash in the Enterprise world if they added the Allo type features to it. So they have pretty much to have separate systems for Enterprise vs Consumer if they want to integrate all the Google Now capabilities.
I don't understand why they need to have different apps doing the same thing. I am on the same boat as you, using Hangouts for video calls quite frequently. Instead of releasing a new app like Duo, they should have first fixed performance issues with Hangouts and added this as an update. Then there is Allo. Google has weird thinking.
