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What you see as throwing shit at the wall, looks like testing market hypothesis to me. Google isn't going to win the messaging space by building a kitchen sink

What you see as throwing shit at the wall, looks like testing market hypothesis to me. Google isn't going to win the messaging space by building a kitchen sink messaging app that is compatible with everything, so they need to look for opportunities in the market that they can capitalize on. Particularly since Google has regulators breathing down their neck, and carriers unwilling to allow an iMessage equivalent on Android.

tehlike 8y ago
Google has been testing the market since gchat. Doesnt mean it is working out.
- Eridrus 8y ago
  It seems like Duo is working out. It has more than 500m installs, and isn't installed by default, so it's numbers aren't padded the same way Hangouts' are. Allo, despite being shut down got to about the same size as Signal.
  - tehlike 8y ago
    Is hangouts installed by default (i don't know), seem to have a billion installs, which looked a bit too high for both default-install, and non-default install.
    - keerthiko 8y ago
      It's installed by default on most Android devices, and a large portion of Asia's handset market (India) is dominated by Android, but messaging in India is dominated by Whatsapp. So almost-a-billion is bloated download numbers of Indian smartphones coming with hangouts installed, but none of them using it.
  - tehlike 8y ago
    Signal is rather niche, so is telegram.
  - wpietri 8y ago
    Are you sure it's not installed by default for at least some people? I never installed it, but it's on my Google Pixel.
    - piyush_soni 8y ago
      It's installed by default only on the Pixels.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        As a LG owner I can assure that several LG models also have it by default.
  - ovi256 8y ago
    Just uninstalled Duo from a new Android phone.
ken 8y ago
Google has been working on chat for well over a decade. At what point do they stop "testing market hypothesis" and build the product people want to use? I don't want to be a Google tester (market or beta), and certainly not for years on end. I don't care about "opportunities in the market that they can capitalize on". Just build one good chat system. In the areas where Google excels, they didn't get there by applying this throw-everything-at-the-wall strategy. The design of Google Search wasn't the result of 13 years of betas. What do you do when nothing sticks? If they can stumble around for this long and still feel the need to test half a dozen possible strategies, maybe the correct conclusion is that, unlike Search or Maps, Google doesn't really have anything as a company to offer this product category, and they should just get out and focus on areas where they can contribute.
- x0x0 8y ago
  The right thing isn't that hard to figure out, either. Build iMessage, but make it work across android, ios, and desktop web.

tehlike 8y ago

Google has been testing the market since gchat. Doesnt mean it is working out.

Eridrus 8y ago
It seems like Duo is working out. It has more than 500m installs, and isn't installed by default, so it's numbers aren't padded the same way Hangouts' are. Allo, despite being shut down got to about the same size as Signal.
- tehlike 8y ago
  Is hangouts installed by default (i don't know), seem to have a billion installs, which looked a bit too high for both default-install, and non-default install.
  - keerthiko 8y ago
    It's installed by default on most Android devices, and a large portion of Asia's handset market (India) is dominated by Android, but messaging in India is dominated by Whatsapp. So almost-a-billion is bloated download numbers of Indian smartphones coming with hangouts installed, but none of them using it.
- tehlike 8y ago
  Signal is rather niche, so is telegram.
- wpietri 8y ago
  Are you sure it's not installed by default for at least some people? I never installed it, but it's on my Google Pixel.
  - piyush_soni 8y ago
    It's installed by default only on the Pixels.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      As a LG owner I can assure that several LG models also have it by default.
- ovi256 8y ago
  Just uninstalled Duo from a new Android phone.

ken 8y ago

Google has been working on chat for well over a decade. At what point do they stop "testing market hypothesis" and build the product people want to use? I don't want to be a Google tester (market or beta), and certainly not for years on end. I don't care about "opportunities in the market that they can capitalize on". Just build one good chat system. In the areas where Google excels, they didn't get there by applying this throw-everything-at-the-wall strategy. The design of Google Search wasn't the result of 13 years of betas. What do you do when nothing sticks? If they can stumble around for this long and still feel the need to test half a dozen possible strategies, maybe the correct conclusion is that, unlike Search or Maps, Google doesn't really have anything as a company to offer this product category, and they should just get out and focus on areas where they can contribute.

x0x0 8y ago
The right thing isn't that hard to figure out, either. Build iMessage, but make it work across android, ios, and desktop web.