I snarkily want to say "because Google has no idea what it's doing with messaging", but that's probably being too strong. It's a solid question to ask, that it

I snarkily want to say "because Google has no idea what it's doing with messaging", but that's probably being too strong. It's a solid question to ask, that it needs to be asked I think points to the conundrum of messaging from the perspective of a consumer regarding Google products. I'll say this much, the constant moving around of platforms and products around messaging, and the eventual announcement that Hangouts would be killing off SMS support for anyone who wasn't a Google Fi subscribe or a user of a Google Voice number is what finally pushed me to drop Android and buy an iPhone.