【2023 Archives】

Talk. Hangouts. Duo. Allo.

Google can't seem to stop making communications apps023 Archives and it feels like it's getting worse at it — I remember a time when everyone was on Hangouts, but Allo barely made a dent in the market before it was dismantled in March 2019. And now, the company is at it again — but this time its focus is different.

According to The Information (you'll need a subscription to read the article), Google is working on a new, "unified" communications app, aimed at businesses.

The new app, which will be a part of G Suite, combines the functionality of several existing Google apps, including Gmail, Drive, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. It should also work with Calendar, although users will have to download it as a separate app.

The idea is to position it against business-oriented communication solutions such as Microsoft Teams or Slack. Google is reportedly working hard to woo Fortune 500 companies to switch to its suite of products, and a bundled product like this should be easier to manage within a large corporation.

But the new app could also bring some order to Google's spectacularly messy suite of messaging products for the enterprise, which once included the now-defunct Inbox and Allo, as well as Hangouts, which is being shut down and replaced with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet.

It's unclear, however, how the new app will affect Google's existing app lineup, and whether it will be available for personal use as well. There's also no word on when the new app might launch, though it's reportedly being "tested internally," which means a public beta might not be too far off.