Google launches FaceTime competitor, video-calling app Duo

New app, first announced at Google I/O, is simple and cross-platform.

Chat with MarTechBot

During its developer conference this year, Google announced two new apps designed to take on incumbents in video calling and chat: Duo and Allo. Perhaps the fastest and most accurate way to describe Duo is as a cross-platform FaceTime competitor.

Duo’s pitch is that it’s simple and will work on both iOS and Android, even on slow connections. Thus it contemplates a global audience, including developing markets where mobile connection speeds are still much slower. According to an interview with Google’s VP of communication products, Nick Fox, a “secondary motive” for Duo is to entice iPhone users to switch to Android.

Google Duo

Duo boasts a clever feature called Knock Knock, “which lets you see live video of your caller before you answer, giving you a sense of what they’re up to and why they want to chat.”

Duo replaces Google Hangouts for consumers. Originally positioned as the successor to Google Talk and GChat, Hangouts will now become a B2B or enterprise-focused product.

Whereas Duo is one-to-one, Hangouts can host group calling. For this reason, Google isn’t simply shuttering Hangouts, although one can argue that Hangouts now joins the list of Google products that fell short of expectations (or failed).


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Greg Sterling
Contributor
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Get the must-read newsletter for marketers.