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Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

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Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#251

Post by zshbleaker »

Teckla wrote: post #232
vijaybritto wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using a telephone number is impractical? That's our identity in the third world. I think they are focused on the developing world in this.

What if the user is on a WiFi-only tablet, or laptop, or desktop PC? What if the user is at an Internet cafe? What if the phone user has no cellular signal but has WiFi access? Clearly it would be a mistake to limit this to just phone users.

I'm from China where WeChat dominates everything and SMS are nothing but to receive verification codes. Almost everyone here use WeChat as their contact and Contacts.app is merely opened no more than once a month. This phenomenon is common from giant cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, which are at least as developed as NYC or SF, to small cities in the rest part of the vast country, which are absolutely 3rd or even 4th world.

I agree with your point that in some countries people don't use Email and that's the face in China as well. But people use phone numbers just for register other services, as the online identity. We don't use SMS, and we prefer WeChat Audio over phone calls when it's available.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#252

Post by prepend »

My cynical take. Phones are tied to identies and using google chat means that real people are linked to all their google activity. That is a extremely valuable for Google. So IM tied to phones is great for them.

GoogleTalk and chat that allows internet only is not very valuable to Google.

Since it’s trivial to have a chat protocol work well with carriers and browsers and everything else, Occum’s Razor says Google did it for money. By allowing anonymous accounts like gtalk and jabber and such, it makes their ad pool worse. They could go freemium and just ignore those less valuable accounts that aren’t tied to a phone. But instead save the 1000 engineer hours or whatever to not have to support non-phone based chat.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#253

Post by MiddleEndian »

dx034 wrote: post #138
elvirs wrote: post #94

Its shocking how Google is embarrassing itself with these incompatible chat apps released one after another and abandoned right after the release. GTalk Gmail Chat Google Voice Hangouts Android Messages Allo Duo for fucks sake Google, just copy Whatsapp but make it stored on cloud, not on the device, like FB Messenger. Enable account recovery using email in addition to sms and enable usernames or email in addition ph…

I like the Whatsapp solution. Why does it have to be stored on cloud? Web interface with Whatsapp Web (via phone) works well.

I personally hate that aspect of Whatsapp. Having to scan a QR code to use chat on my desktop/laptop is a huge pain and is a major reason why I stick to Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#254

Post by prepend »

arkadiytehgraet wrote: post #184
azinman2 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iMessage is end-to-end encryption.

How do you know that? Have you seen sources and verified that those sources are actually compiled and shipped with the final product?

That’s a good point. Apple attests that it’s end to end and people have tried to track and fail and leaks don’t reveal vulnerabilities.

By comparison, no other majors attest that (eg, Google explicitly says it’s not end to end) and leaks have shown data accessed in clear text by government actors.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#255

Post by bearcobra »

rm999 wrote: post #185
moksha256 wrote: post #134

Didn't Google have messaging figured out with Google Talk? Everyone was on Gmail all day (as many still are) and people actually used it. Then they let it wither, came out with Hangouts, and it's been a downhill train wreck from there. Google Talk had the potential of being one of the biggest messengers in the world...they own Gmail and Android (!!!!!). Are you kidding me? There's really no good reason for them NOT t…

Google dominated non-SMS chat in the late 2000s/early 2010s. I don't think they realized how insanely valuable that was - they were basically sitting on the future of communication. All they had to do was sit back and let network effects build their monopoly (with some more tech build-out and straightforward marketing in international markets). Instead, they myopically saw Facebook as a threat and started one of the…

Google dominated non-SMS chat in the late 2000s/early 2010s

My social group was dominated by BBM & Skype until iMessage & Facebook Messenger took over. I've always assumed Google's efforts around messaging were because they had a niche product inside Gmail that they wanted to make more consumer friendly, hence the constant attempts to rebrand it.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#256

Post by defertoreptar »

scrooched_moose wrote: post #110
exabrial wrote: post #87

The carriers are idiots. It's where innovation goes to die. We had to pull them kicking and screaming into the smart phone and data era. (Remember When AT&T sent a paper copy of every image you downloaded on your iPhone in a bill?) Quite frankly the core problem with Google's strategy is involving then at all. Instead, go the manufacturers and campaign against supporting sms at all . It's insecure, slow, unreliable,…

> unreliable Really? It's the only messaging format that works without a data connection and is an absolute godsend when I'm out camping, rural biking, or at large sporting events and the towers are absolutely swamped. I'm in a situation at least once a month where the only reliable communication method is SMS.

Dropped SMS messages, particularly between Android and and iPhones, have caused some catastrophes at my work. I no longer trust them enough to use them to communicate with staff.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#257

Post by heymijo »

pas wrote: post #240
heymijo wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and set rewards +500k +promotion for completely new, "revolutionary" products ;-)" Do you have a source for this? Not disputing you, but would like to reference.

https://mtlynch.io/why-i-quit-google/

Thank you. That's a clear accounting of perverse incentives in action at Google.

"I adopted a new strategy. Before starting any task, I asked myself whether it would help my case for promotion. If the answer was no, I didn’t do it."

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#260

Post by pound »

mistermann wrote: post #132
SubNoize wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that + a desktop client/web app is all anyone wishes for, how can they be do blind and stupid.

It never ceases to amaze me how blatantly incompetent Google is when it comes to software, blind and stupid is not hyperbole, the proper thing to do here is absolutely crystal clear, users are begging for it (I know, I've googled trying to find a desktop solution that works and doesn't cost $5/month ffs), and they just keep releasing pieces of crap over and over. It's hard to believe this is real life sometimes.

You're talking about company, you expect coherent product vision/strategy of a single entity.

Reality is that all these products are result of autonomy given to teams - it's not really pushed top-down, so new 'innovative' ideas are spearheaded and pushed up for strategy's adoption.

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