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I dont understand why Google can't do what Apple did. And they did it like 10 years ago.

jeroenhd 7y ago
They tried. Several times. Google Talk / Hangouts was an early attempt; Allo tried again when Hangouts didn't take the public by storm and Google needed to get Assistant out to more people. One problem with Google is that it can't keep any modern project running for more than 2 years. Such unreliability makes it difficult for people to use any new Google app as a primary means of communication. Another problem is that end-to-end encryption goes against everything Google is about: information mining. Google can't make a direct profit of such a communication system, so e2e won't happen anytime soon.
- ulfw 7y ago
  And they can't decide what to use for communication. Google Login or phone number. Later it became both. A mess of systems, principles, apps, support and branding (and internally teams).
jayd16 7y ago
The hacky way Apple tracks iPhone users vs other contacts that leads to dropped messages when you switch away from iOS is not something I want to see Google replicate.
Medicalidiot 7y ago
Rumor has it anti-trust is what's stopping them.
izacus 7y ago
Can you imagine the outrage on HN if Google would redirect messaging from SMS to a proprietary iMessage-like protocol on all Android phones?
jillesvangurp 7y ago
Apple did something clever here: they first created a product a lot of people wanted and then they negotiated hard with carriers to get the full IOS experience to users. This was quite revolutionary at the time. Most manufacturers had to negotiate with individual operators about such things like which features the operators needed to have turned off or removed (e.g. thethering, or bundled software like Skype). Then additionally firmware updates had to be approved and shipped seperately for each operator. All of this continues to be a problem with Android ten years later. Things like iMessage were basically dictated by Apple and operators had the choice between not supporting IOS and being abandoned by iphone fans or supporting IOS as is. These days, Apple just launches new phones and operators bend over backwards to be able to support it on the day it launches. Apple's negotiation position is awesome. Google has the problem that there are a lot of Android OEMs and customizing Android by these OEMs is common. Their negotiation position is simply not that strong and a lot of these OEMs really need those deals with operators and are willing to do anything. Operators can really screw over these OEMs by blocking their access to the market; and this happens regularly. They can't afford to do that with Apple.

They tried. Several times. Google Talk / Hangouts was an early attempt; Allo tried again when Hangouts didn't take the public by storm and Google needed to get Assistant out to more people. One problem with Google is that it can't keep any modern project running for more than 2 years. Such unreliability makes it difficult for people to use any new Google app as a primary means of communication. Another problem is that end-to-end encryption goes against everything Google is about: information mining. Google can't make a direct profit of such a communication system, so e2e won't happen anytime soon.

ulfw 7y ago
And they can't decide what to use for communication. Google Login or phone number. Later it became both. A mess of systems, principles, apps, support and branding (and internally teams).

jayd16 7y ago

The hacky way Apple tracks iPhone users vs other contacts that leads to dropped messages when you switch away from iOS is not something I want to see Google replicate.

Medicalidiot 7y ago

Rumor has it anti-trust is what's stopping them.

izacus 7y ago

Can you imagine the outrage on HN if Google would redirect messaging from SMS to a proprietary iMessage-like protocol on all Android phones?

jillesvangurp 7y ago

Apple did something clever here: they first created a product a lot of people wanted and then they negotiated hard with carriers to get the full IOS experience to users. This was quite revolutionary at the time. Most manufacturers had to negotiate with individual operators about such things like which features the operators needed to have turned off or removed (e.g. thethering, or bundled software like Skype). Then additionally firmware updates had to be approved and shipped seperately for each operator. All of this continues to be a problem with Android ten years later. Things like iMessage were basically dictated by Apple and operators had the choice between not supporting IOS and being abandoned by iphone fans or supporting IOS as is. These days, Apple just launches new phones and operators bend over backwards to be able to support it on the day it launches. Apple's negotiation position is awesome. Google has the problem that there are a lot of Android OEMs and customizing Android by these OEMs is common. Their negotiation position is simply not that strong and a lot of these OEMs really need those deals with operators and are willing to do anything. Operators can really screw over these OEMs by blocking their access to the market; and this happens regularly. They can't afford to do that with Apple.