Google insists Hangouts for consumers isn't going away
Despite everything they’ve said implying Allo and Duo would replace it.
After announcing their new AI-powered chat platforms Allo and Duo last September, Google seems to be sunsetting the old and busted Hangouts in favor of their new hotness. Several other announcements seemed to confirm that strategy, including a Hangouts app specially tooled for enterprise the search giant introduced yesterday. What that means for the consumer version in the long run is unclear, but head of product for Allo and Duo Amit Fulay assured that it's not going anywhere, at least for now.
@amitfulay What will happen to current consumer Hangouts users?
— Andrew King (@andrewkingmusic) March 10, 2017
Which came hours after he identified the product focuses for Google's messaging apps:
This further crystallizes our efforts around Allo and Duo for consumers and Hangouts for productivity/business users
— Amit Fulay (@amitfulay) March 9, 2017
Obviously, "not going anywhere" has no time frame, but at least that means consumer Hangouts probably won't be replaced tomorrow. It will almost certainly be at some point, as consumer apps relying on the old platform won't work after April 25th. In Google's long obsession with churning out chat platforms, it's never quite certain which of last year's promises the company will keep.
