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It really is an analysis of the various regions e.g. Asia, Europe, USA, where Allo was released, and it really is interesting data. It bombed in Asia save for I
by yladiz 10y ago
It really is an analysis of the various regions e.g. Asia, Europe, USA, where Allo was released, and it really is interesting data. It bombed in Asia save for India, and had a lukewarm reception in most other places except parts of the middle east (UAE, Qatar), the USA, and Argentina.
I speculate that it bombed in Asia because Google doesn't understand that market really well; Korea, Japan, and Taiwan already have useful messaging applications that are significantly more popular than any other way of communicating. For example, many people in Korea communicate with their family and friends using Kakao, and in Japan LINE accomplishes the same thing. Why would you switch if you already have a way to message everyone you know?
I would guess actually that is the real reason for lukewarm reception in general: there's no reason to switch if what you have now is good. I have no reason to switch from Messenger, from texting, from Hangouts, to this new offering that may be better but isn't good enough to make me want to switch. I am curious why it is so popular in India and the middle east though.
- the_duke 10y agoYep. Just as with many products in the recent years, it's just years to late. What's App is the biggest one in Europe and the US, I guess. I really don't understand how it wasn't Google, MS or FB who established the first really big messaging app. It seems like such an obvious thing. (What's App also wasn't the first by far, just the one that gained enough traction to lure so many people in).
- Nullabillity 10y ago> I really don't understand how it wasn't Google, MS or FB who established the first really big messaging app. Remember MSN?
- the_duke 10y agoI was talking about mobile, connected to your phone number, a la What's App. But that's exactly my point. With MSN it would should have been so easy to put out a good mobile app and capture the market.
- camiller 10y agoI agree, to a certain extent. I expect that I will only end up using Allo with my wife and daughter and only when I need to send something encrypted. I can't tell you how many times my wife has asked for the password to something like our bank's page over text. I never send it like that but she does ask...
- nojvek 10y agoI'm surprised you think Allo is secure that you can send passwords. With a company who's core business is learning as much about a person to shove ads in their face, I wouldn't be too surprised if Allo messages are logged somewhere so their AI learns to exploit you someday.
- camiller 10y agoWell, at this point I believe that when you use Allo in incognito mode it does end-to-end encryption. You also lose the integration with google assistant at that point. https://support.google.com/allo/answer/6383724?hl=en https://support.google.com/allo/answer/6383724?hl=en What happens in Incognito mode You won't be able to preview your message in the Allo conversation list. You'll just see that you or the other person "sent a message." Notifications won't display who sent the message or its content. If you want to turn off notifications entirely, go to Menu Menu and then Settings and then Notifications. Your chats are end-to-end encrypted and can only be seen by you and the person you're chatting with. Google can't read any of your messages, so you won't see any Smart Reply or Google Assistant features. When you receive a sticker from a sticker pack that you don’t have, Allo will download it securely from Google’s servers, but without using end-to-end encryption.
- neolefty 10y agoBeing #1 in India seems like a success in and of itself, considering Allo is entering such a crowded market.
- eloisant 10y agoTo be honest every country on earth has a "winning" messaging platform by now, and it seems hard to displaced. There used to be dominant platforms on desktop messaging, the switch to desktop open the door to new entrants (Whatsapp, LINE), but unfortunately Google lost that battle with Hangout.
- dounts 10y agoI actually updated our article with new data from October. It looks WAY worse for every single country.