Tech / Product News & Reviews
Prepare yourself for the big display with our annual giant list of company projects.
by Ron Amadeo – May 15, two thousand seventeen 11:00 am UTC
Google Allo’s futile attempt to become relevant
Allo is (was?) Google’s dead-on-arrival instant messaging app. The product launched in August with a show-stopping amount of missing features—it didn’t work with Google accounts, could only be logged in on one device at a time, couldn’t receive SMSes, and didn’t have a desktop app.
Over the months, somehow Allo has reached version ten without fixing any of these crippling defects, and most of the "fresh features" are laughably trivial, like the addition of fresh stickers or animated gifs. While Google’s rivals like Facebook spend billions of dollars in the instant messaging space, Google Allo feels more like someone’s twenty percent project.
Still in early development, but coming to a desktop near you. #GoogleAllo #SneakPeek pic.twitter.com/f7QNFH7IHO
There are some signs of life from the Allo team, however. Nick Fox, Google’s VP of Communications Products, collective a screenshot of a Web interface for Allo this year. Given Allo’s glacial tempo of development, it’s hard to imagine Allo ever being successful, but at least this is something.
Google takes on Slack with (yet another version of) Hangouts
The main Web app interface—check out that "embark a conversation" button.
The main Web app interface—check out that "embark a conversation" button.
Mentioning someone works just like Slack.
The phone version.
Another phone shot.
"Hangouts Meet," which looks just like the old movie system.
Google Hangouts commenced as a group movie talk service, then the name was reused for an instant messaging service, and now it’s being reused again for a Slack competitor. "Hangouts Talk" is a GSuite-centric talk app with rooms, @mentions, and threaded discussions. There’s a fresh movie component called "Hangouts Meet," which looks a lot like the old group movie talk but has a big under-the-hood overhaul.
Hangouts Talk went into a closed "early adopter program" in March, but we’re still awaiting an official launch.
Will Google Play ever arrive in China?
Maybe some day Google will make it to China. As the world’s most populated country, China is also the world’s fattest smartphone market and therefore pretty significant to the Android division and other parts of Google. The company doesn’t do business in China, however, thanks to disagreements over search censorship.
In September 2015, both The Wall Street Journal and The Information wrote articles telling Google Play was headed back to China. The WSJ said that Google has been working on a special version of the Play Store that includes "only apps and services approved by the Chinese government," but it has been two years now, and Google Play still hasn’t launched there.
With no "default" Android app store in China, the app store market is a fragmented mess. The lack of the Google Play Store created a power vacuum, which was packed up by app stores from Internet companies like Qihoo, Tencent, and Baidu or Android OEMs like Xiaomi and Huawei.
We’re very interested to see what happens with the MADA (Mobile Application Distribution Agreement) contracts Google makes every Google Play Licensee sign. The contract has "anti-fragmentation" clauses that require any OEM licensing the Google Play ecosystem to only ship Google Play on all of their devices—they aren’t permitted to make non-Google AOSP forks and can’t ship rival app stores. This clause only applies to territories Google does business in, which in the past has created a loophole permitting China’s fragment app store market to flourish.
All the major Android OEMs in China are international companies that are under contract with Google, so what happens when Google moves into China? Do fresh Android devices in China abruptly all have to ship with Google Play? Does Google give everyone time to transition? Will the rules in China be totally different? We truly have no idea.
Google Tracker 2017—All the stuff Google has in the works ahead of Google I
Tech / Product News & Reviews
Prepare yourself for the big showcase with our annual giant list of company projects.
by Ron Amadeo – May 15, two thousand seventeen 11:00 am UTC
Google Allo’s futile attempt to become relevant
Allo is (was?) Google’s dead-on-arrival instant messaging app. The product launched in August with a show-stopping amount of missing features—it didn’t work with Google accounts, could only be logged in on one device at a time, couldn’t receive SMSes, and didn’t have a desktop app.
Over the months, somehow Allo has reached version ten without fixing any of these crippling defects, and most of the "fresh features" are laughably trivial, like the addition of fresh stickers or animated gifs. While Google’s rivals like Facebook spend billions of dollars in the instant messaging space, Google Allo feels more like someone’s twenty percent project.
Still in early development, but coming to a desktop near you. #GoogleAllo #SneakPeek pic.twitter.com/f7QNFH7IHO
There are some signs of life from the Allo team, however. Nick Fox, Google’s VP of Communications Products, collective a screenshot of a Web interface for Allo this year. Given Allo’s glacial rhythm of development, it’s hard to imagine Allo ever being successful, but at least this is something.
Google takes on Slack with (yet another version of) Hangouts
The main Web app interface—check out that "commence a conversation" button.
The main Web app interface—check out that "embark a conversation" button.
Mentioning someone works just like Slack.
The phone version.
Another phone shot.
"Hangouts Meet," which looks just like the old movie system.
Google Hangouts embarked as a group movie talk service, then the name was reused for an instant messaging service, and now it’s being reused again for a Slack competitor. "Hangouts Talk" is a GSuite-centric talk app with rooms, @mentions, and threaded discussions. There’s a fresh movie component called "Hangouts Meet," which looks a lot like the old group movie talk but has a big under-the-hood overhaul.
Hangouts Talk went into a closed "early adopter program" in March, but we’re still awaiting an official launch.
Will Google Play ever arrive in China?
Maybe some day Google will make it to China. As the world’s most populated country, China is also the world’s fattest smartphone market and therefore pretty significant to the Android division and other parts of Google. The company doesn’t do business in China, tho’, thanks to disagreements over search censorship.
In September 2015, both The Wall Street Journal and The Information wrote articles telling Google Play was headed back to China. The WSJ said that Google has been working on a special version of the Play Store that includes "only apps and services approved by the Chinese government," but it has been two years now, and Google Play still hasn’t launched there.
With no "default" Android app store in China, the app store market is a fragmented mess. The lack of the Google Play Store created a power vacuum, which was packed up by app stores from Internet companies like Qihoo, Tencent, and Baidu or Android OEMs like Xiaomi and Huawei.
We’re very interested to see what happens with the MADA (Mobile Application Distribution Agreement) contracts Google makes every Google Play Licensee sign. The contract has "anti-fragmentation" clauses that require any OEM licensing the Google Play ecosystem to only ship Google Play on all of their devices—they aren’t permitted to make non-Google AOSP forks and can’t ship rival app stores. This clause only applies to territories Google does business in, which in the past has created a loophole permitting China’s fragment app store market to flourish.
All the major Android OEMs in China are international companies that are under contract with Google, so what happens when Google moves into China? Do fresh Android devices in China all of a sudden all have to ship with Google Play? Does Google give everyone time to transition? Will the rules in China be totally different? We truly have no idea.