At its I/O 2016 developer conference, Google announced two new Android appschangeς messages: Allo and Duo. The company thus doubled the number of messaging apps, which includes Hangouts and Messenger. For now it seems the company plans to keep them all, as it hasn't announced any retirements or mergers of apps.
VB requested clarifications from Google:
Η Allo is one application ανταλλαγής μηνυμάτων που χρησιμοποιεί τον τηλεφωνικό σας αριθμό, είναι μόνο για κινητά, και αναπτύχθηκε ειδικά για να αξιοποιήσει τη μηχανική μάθηση της Google, για την επεξεργασία της φυσικής γλώσσας, και χαρακτηριστικά AI που δεν υπήρχαν πριν από λίγα χρόνια. Σκεφτείτε τη σαν ένα παιδικό παιχνίδι της εταιρείας που σκοπεύει να δοκιμάσει τα όρια του τι μπορεί να κάνει μια εφαρμογή μηνυμάτων για κινητά.
Η duo is a video call application for one-to-one communication. It's mobile only, and it's been developed to be fast, thanks to Web Real-Time CommunicationWebRTC). It is assumed that there will be fewer call interruptions, and it will support Wi-Fi connections but also through a telephone provider.
The Hangouts is a messaging platform that exists here and 3 years that has merged many features such as SMS and video call support. It is cross-platform and works on desktops and laptops.
Ο Messenger is Google's messaging service, an SMS application that comes standard in Appliances with Android. The company uses the application to promote the Rich Communication Services (RCS), enabling Android devices to offer features such as group messaging, IP voice calls, and file sharing.
At present, Allo and Duo applications are not officially released, and will be available later this summer. All these applications are managed by the same team in Google (Communications product team), founded about one and a half years ago by Nick Fox.
We recently saw that Google announced Spaces. However, this service is not a messaging application, but a social application such as Google+.
Google's messaging strategy has been confusing (2013, Google Talk, Hangouts, and Google+ Messenger), and it does not seem to change anything. Meanwhile, competitors, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger (and two owned by Facebook) are both top messaging apps, with 1 billion and 900 million users, respectively.
Facebook is totally dominated by space, and Google just seems to be experimenting. The company seems to be deploying applications from scratch to understand what could work as an innovation.
The difference between the two latest applications is the use of AI technologies and mechanical learning, but two features that have already incorporated Facebook.
Let's hope that one day Google will end up with a messaging app.