The long-rumored Google Duo meets Google merge is actually happening. Google officially confirmed the move on June 1, explaining in a blog post that the goal is to create a “single video communication service” and that the Duo branding will disappear in favor of Google Meet.
While the Google Duo brand is dying, it sounds like Duo Code library Will continue to be the basis for the new Google Meet. Google said that “Duo’s existing video calling capabilities will continue” and that “over the next few weeks, we will be adding all Google Meet features to the Duo app, so users can easily schedule video meetings at the right time.”
The move comes after Google unify its communications team 2020 under the leadership of Javier Soltero, VP and GM of Google Workspace (Google blogger).Google hasn’t made it clear which products to unify, but it should That means Google Hangouts, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Messages, Google Duo, and Google Voice will all live under one roof.
Here is a quick review a long history Google messaging app: Launched in 2016, Google Duo is a standalone video chat app with a “companion” messaging app called “Google Allo.”Google just tried and failed buy WhatsApp Two years ago (Facebook made a $22 billion acquisition), so it launched Copier for Google Allo, a straight-up WhatsApp clone.It uses SMS-based phone number identification instead of Google accounts, and is limited to one device at a time, following very The non-Google way WhatsApp works.
It might seem odd to launch two communication apps at the same time, but the idea is that Google could make Duo a companion to WhatsApp and Allo. Typically, a company should include video chat in its new messaging app — like Hangouts or Facebook Messenger or (eventually) WhatsApp. Presumably, though, Google knew it couldn’t compete with the WhatsApp giant in chat, so it made a standalone video app with a Whatsapp clone attached. WhatsApp users can stay and chat on WhatsApp, but they can add this Duo app to their arsenal.
WhatsApp didn’t have a video chat feature at the time, and Duo was rushed to the market (it came before Allo) to beat WhatsApp’s upcoming video feature. Both Allo and Duo were first launched in India – WhatsApp’s strongest market – while Duo was built from the ground up to provide video chat over the slowest internet connection. The strategy worked, and while Allo died two and a half years later, Duo survived.As far as I know, Google has never shared active user stats, but Duo became default An Android app in 2016, so like every other default Android app, it’s been downloaded more than 5 billion times on the Play Store.
While Duo is all about Google’s WhatsApp jealousy, Google Meet is the embodiment of Google’s Zoom jealousy. Technically, Meet launched in 2017 as a business video conferencing product for G Suite teams, but it was shelved for years. When the pandemic hit in 2020 and Zoom usage surged, Google Meet was drafted as Google’s answer.
