This comes after Google had decided to break out Hangouts into many different apps. Video calling and messaging apps were separate, for consumers and workspace users. So we went from Hangouts to Duo, Allo, Chat, and Meet. Now they’ll all be in one app. Google is hoping that by bringing Duo and Meet together, it can solve a big modern communication issue. “What’s been really important is understanding how people make the choice as to what tool they’re going to use, for what purpose, in what circumstance,” says Javier Soltero, the head of Google Workspace. We all have a ton of different chat apps on our phones and computers, and all are used every single day. Google wants Meet to be the solution to that. Hoping to use Gmail addresses and phone numbers to bring it all together in Meet.
Duo isn’t actually going away, of course
While the combined product is going to be called Meet, it’s going to use Duo’s foundation. And it’ll likely be pre-installed on all Android phones that have Google services. Since Duo is already pre-installed. Google Meet is already baked into most Google services, so it makes sense for Google to stick with that one over Duo. And that could help it become as synonymous as WhatsApp and Facetime. This is just the latest in the Google messaging saga for the company. Hopefully this time, Meet will stick around. Unlike Google Talk, Hangouts, and Allo in the past. Now we’ll be left with Google Messages for RCS and then Meet for video-calling.
