Hacker News Reader

Comment by ethanbond | Hacker News Reader

Well it wouldn't be Google with any fewer than 4 semi-competing apps in their own portfolio.

My guess is Duo will be like Inbox competing with gmail. I am guessing here but I think Google is on to something around innovation. They are launching innovative future facing apps without the constraints of legacy systems. They will use this approach to figure out which features work and back port them into their legacy apps. Not a bad approach if it works.

But this requires you and all your friends to sign up to yet another system, with yet another account. "Try this app, at has some features that may or may not make it into Hangouts" is not a great sell for my friends.

True, but with Android's market share, it's pretty compelling to be able to do a "FaceTime" with anyone. That's the larger opportunity.

Many people have iPhones because of FaceTime. If Google can show that you can Duo anyone and it works as well, then they may switch, perhaps even to their very own Nexus devices.

I'm not sure I personally like this app because I'm on Android and I used to have an excuse to not FaceTime friends and family, haha. If they discover this Duo, I may get pressured.

> True, but with Android's market share, it's pretty compelling to be able to do a "FaceTime" with anyone. That's the larger opportunity.

Assuming it ends up on all Android phones. Which is a big assumption.

I believe Duo will be added to the next Android release. It will take awhile for devices to get of course, but that's a big advantage.

A feature coming to maybe a fraction of phones some day in the future several years too late is not "a big advantage."

It's as disadvantageous a spot as you can be in, and Google put themselves there by squandering their multiple previous big advantages.

There are over 1.4B Android devices worldwide. Over 13% are on the latest version. New Samsung device sales are strong. They own search and their app store.

How is that not a big advantage? Sure it's overdue, but they sold over 1.4B devices without it. It makes their offering more compelling to iOS users who've come to expect FaceTime.

I think the point of Duo isn't to require a signup. Your phone number is the only thing required which lowers the barrier. You still have to download it of course..

It's basically competition to WhatsApp, several years late. WhatsApp solved the messaging for masses, non-technical folks, parents and grandparents. Which is why its so popular.

my entire family and friends circle runs on WhatsApp. Photo sharing, video sharing, voice calls, video calls ... anything you can think of. And it does a good job, really good job. I have never interacted with WhatsApp and felt frustrated or lost.

The lack of desktop interface didnt feel like losing something becasue it was never there to start with.

given Google's history, I don't trust them to do a decent UI that works for everyone or the longevity.

You could also say that Google search was a few years too late because Yahoo! already solved that problem. Obviously they think they can do it better and have the resources to test that

Yahoo was turning away from search and towards portals. They made a bad bet and Google happened to be the next in line.

Several other search engines fizzled underneath Yahoo's reign, Google would've been no exception has it not been for Yahoo's miscalculation.

thankfully looks like this one doesn't need an account

There is no signing up or passwords. Just SMS verification code, like WhatsApp.

You don't even need a google account, just a phone number

But don't you need a Google account to download the app on the Play Store?

You don't need a Google account to download apps from the Apple Store. One of the major advantages to Duo is that it is cross-platform.

That's fine for an email client, but video chat requires network effect to be useful.

The network effect is portable when the identities are preserved across products. For example, Facebook's separating out of FB Messenger was done while preserving the already built-up network effect.

I would argue that its already not working. I remember a time when everybody I knew went to google for communications services. After a few years of domination Google started competing with itself and suddenly those of us who were willing to change found ourselves alone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com