The Long, Ludicrous History of Google’s Messaging Apps, Explained

Google is an absolute menace in terms of messaging. As it formally retires its long-running Hangouts app, it’s value noting that the corporate has launched over a dozen totally different messengers over the course of the final decade and a half. Some of them have had lengthy, confused life cycles; others have died fast and ignominious deaths. Worse nonetheless, many have been developed and launched in tandem to at least one one other, leading to bizarre redundancies for customers.

Why the hell have there been so many? And what precisely is Google enjoying at, right here? That’s the everlasting thriller.

When in comparison with an organization like Apple (whose iMessages have been tweaked over time to change into a reliable favorite for hundreds of thousands), or Meta (which acquired WhatsApp in 2014 after which swiftly turned it into the most popular messaging app on the planet), Google’s technique looks like a bizarre goose chase of epic proportions. There appears to be no official clarification for why the tech large can’t fairly get it collectively, both. Turning to random voices on the web for interpretation, I stumbled throughout just a few potential solutions to this enduring thriller. One individual on Reddit explained it this way:

There was a time when Google was the firm I might have thought would nook the messaging market. More than any of the rivals on the time, Google had the model picture and technical functionality to push its messaging options. But Google by no means discovered that whereas disruption is a enterprise technique in Silicon Valley, disrupting your individual enterprise is a shitty concept.

Hmm, attention-grabbing thought, internet rando. Another Redditor got even more analytical:

“[They have a dozen messenger apps] …Because their org structure & performance review mechanisms aren’t well suited for a coherent product strategy. People get promotions for releasing new products, not so much for maintaining and steadily supporting existing ones.”

Still one other armchair commentator stored issues fundamental:

“Throw enough shit on the wall and something is bound to stick right?”

Whatever the rationale, Google has definitely made a status for itself in terms of blitzing the world with an countless string of messaging functions. While the corporate has gone by far too many pivots and rebrands to jot all of them down right here, we determined to compile just a few of essentially the most stand-out platforms and functions within the tech large’s lengthy historical past of fumbled product technique. Click by and be confused.