We all heard the rumours that Whatsapp soon will start to use its app as an advertising platform for businesses. Furthermore, we have all been confronted by the lack of privacy which comes with the use of social media. Suggestions have been made that due the encryption of our messages in the Whatsapp software our privacy might be gone. The encryption of the messages sent via Whatsapp are vulnerable to session hijacking. With a large sum of the total communication (37%) done with the messaging system Whatsapp this issue, among others, might decrease the usage of this software (Katescomment, 2016). (Sanchez, 2013)
What should happen would a replacement for the current communicating software arise? Tomorrow, the 20th of September, Google will introduce a messaging app, Allo.
About Allo
The messaging app can be described as pretty similar to Whatsapp; the software is free and available for android, Iphone and Windows phone. The main difference is that the new software will feature a Google assistant. The assistant is a new conversational interface to get information from google whilst using the messaging app to make the conversation more engaging.
Although the chat app is fairly new and limited operational knowledge is known within the social media market, the expectations are high. The main barricade to a successful adaption of the new software is the messaging platforms which have already achieved a billion-user scale. The dissatisfaction the users of Whatsapp currently have might be a window of opportunity for a new communicating app such as Allo. (Bohn, 2016)
So the question arisen in the article is will Allo compete with Whatsapp or will the community of more than half a million users be enough to keep costumers from other chat apps with more features like Allo. Could the improved communication software Allo replace the current market competitor.
https://www.katescomment.com/can-we-trust-whatsapps-privacy/
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/18/11699122/google-allo-messaging-app-announced-io-2016
I am interested in how this app will develop. However, I am wondering how easy it will be to take over such an successful app. After announcing that Facebook bought Whats app, many people started to wonder about the safety and privacy. The day after, around 5 million people downloaded Telegram (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/24/telegram-messaging-app-whatsapp-down-facebook). However, also Whatsapp implemented end-to-end encryption in the end to keep up.
I think an increasing number of people start to care about their privacy, but I wonder if this is enough for all the users of Whatsapp to switch. This really has to be a social movement, since all your friends have to make the change as well. And furthermore, isn’t the Google Assistent a form of advertising as well, since it is based on your personal information?
Thanks for your post, Tosca. It’s interesting to see developments like this, because it can really affect the way you’ll be communicating with others in the (near) future. Personally, I don’t believe that Allo will become a real competitor for existing text messaging services. I have various reasons too believe so, aside from the network effects that current services possess and that you already mentioned in the article.
According to test versions that have been leaked, Allo lacks some important features. First of all, it doesn’t work at multiple devices simultaneously. This means you can’t chat with others on, for instance, your cellphone and iPad at the same time, because they won’t synchronize with each other. Furthermore, Allo will automatically compress images to a lower resolution, which is not always desirable. One also won’t be able to share music or documents with Allo. (http://www.iculture.nl/nieuws/google-allo-comprimeert-fotos-meerdere-toestellen/)
These are clear disadvantages in comparison with current text messaging services. However, I remain curious about its potential success.
I find this a very interesting subject and it made me think about the communication over the decades. Way back, there was no way of communicating other than just meet, later there was just the telephone and with the internet also came more options for communication. First, there where the chatrooms and programs like Messenger to stay in touch but this was only to be used at home.
With the smartphone a whole new world opened up for communication possibilities. Also in this era you can see several trends, the Blackberry Ping was a thing at first and later there was Whatsapp.
If you look at this history and the major developments this industry has made and will make, there is bound to come a replacement for Whatsapp. Not because it will be outdated, but because another app will become the new trend or have this one extra feature which sets it apart from others.
Right now, I don’t see this shift happening for Allo, but no doubt another substitute will rise soon!