Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

googleblog.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 543 posts

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#251

Post by bigtones »

barkingdog wrote: post #197
sidcool wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling Google a clusterfuck of a company is appalling. They would not do this without a strategic thought. Even Facebook has Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB itself. All doing pretty well.

Those portfolios are not even remotely compatible. Hangouts is the only viable product there. Meanwhile, all of Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB are each very strong products with extremely, almost worrisomely strong network effects. Clusterfuck is a bit vague and maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you've got to admit that it's truly hard to think of Google as a company that makes best-in-class consumer softwar…

Google has seven products that are used by more than a billion users per month. They are the only company in the world that can say that - that by definition IS best in class.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#252

Post by rayiner »

barkingdog wrote: post #197
sidcool wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling Google a clusterfuck of a company is appalling. They would not do this without a strategic thought. Even Facebook has Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB itself. All doing pretty well.

Those portfolios are not even remotely compatible. Hangouts is the only viable product there. Meanwhile, all of Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB are each very strong products with extremely, almost worrisomely strong network effects. Clusterfuck is a bit vague and maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you've got to admit that it's truly hard to think of Google as a company that makes best-in-class consumer softwar…

Google never was a company that made best in class consumer software products. Search (maybe Maps?) is the only thing it's ever excelled at.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#253

Post by blunte »

icebraining wrote: post #200
sidcool wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling Google a clusterfuck of a company is appalling. They would not do this without a strategic thought. Even Facebook has Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB itself. All doing pretty well.

How did that strategy work for Buzz, Wave, Lively, Jaiku, Meebo and Talk? Their strategy seems to be throwing stuff at the wall and trying to get something to stick.

It does indeed appear to be their strategy; although it seems to work well enough for them. It's just a bit frustrating for users who periodically lose an app they came to depend on.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#254

Post by TuringNYC »

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go.

What I don't understand is -- given Allo had a blank slate, why did they limit it to just mobile? They cover two major silos (Android + iOS), (one reason we dont use iMsg) but why not the third silo (non-mobile)?

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#255

Post by ryandvm »

jotux wrote: post #72

So now google has Voice, Messenger, Hangouts, Allo, and Duo all with overlapping functionality? I wish they would just focus on making Hangouts work really well.

Google really has nailed usability with Duo. It's clean and fast and easy to use. The potential is there. If I was optimistic, I'd say their strategy will be to force their way into the market by integrating it into the OS via Contacts or maybe even lower.

Of course Hangouts had potential too. And then Slack came along and ate their lunch on the business side. It's really kind of ridiculous that every single organization that I know of that uses Google Apps has decided to ignore Hangouts and use Slack instead. How shitty must your free group chat client be that your customers are paying to replace it...

I feel like Google is my corporate spirit animal because we operate the exact same why. We both like to start super cool side projects, get 70% of the way through it and then just completely lose interest.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#256

Post by danohu »

whack wrote: post #249
jotux wrote: post #72

So now google has Voice, Messenger, Hangouts, Allo, and Duo all with overlapping functionality? I wish they would just focus on making Hangouts work really well.

There was a NYtimes article a few years ago, which I thought perfectly captured the fundamental difference between Apple and Google's product planning process. Apple runs on Intelligent Design. You have a room full of geniuses who decide what to build, make sure it fits perfectly into their overall product portfolio with minimal overlap or cannibalization, spend years in a dark secret room building it until it's perf…

The Google approach would be great, if they just separated it from the Google brand.

Like, when Unilever launch a new detergent, they give it a totally separate brand. If it fails, they drop it quietly, and if it succeeds they can roll it out worldwide.

I wish Google would do the same. Launch this as 'allo', with the fact that it's from alphabet buried in the small print. Once it's been doing well for a couple of years, they can think about pulling it into the Google brand and pushing it to every user in the world.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#258

Post by anentropic »

oddvar wrote: post #231
amelius wrote: post #218

Can't we just agree on one standard already? I hate having to use multiple messaging apps, that's the biggest UX failure right there, and it desperately needs fixing! Forget about all the other features!

agreed! This is what we're trying to do with Matrix ( https://matrix.org )

I couldn't easily tell what it is from reading the homepage

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#259

Post by pbhjpbhj »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #233
putlake wrote: post #8

I'm surprised Google Duo hasn't become more popular. It's a great cross-platform video chat app. I especially like the feature where you can see the other party before you answer their call. I have taken calls because of that feature that I otherwise wouldn't have. It's better than FaceTime because it works on Android. It's better than Skype and Google Hangouts because your cellphone number is your identity; you don'…

>i'm surprised Google Duo hasn't become more popular.// I'm semi-actively looking for alternatives to Skype and hadn't heard of Duo. I've an Android phone, they jam in so much junk I don't need, surprised not have had a notification of a Google communication app. Personally I feel the space needs to be democratised badly. We need some way to take control of contacts lists so they can be locally (to the user) synced o…

Ah, no desktop client ... so not proper cross-platform.
Post reply on HN