It seems there are plenty of communication resources to reach your friends, families, or colleagues. Think of Whatsapp (users > 1 billion), Facebook Messenger (users > 1 billion), Line (users >700 million), iMessage (millions of users), Telegram (users > 100 million) and WeChat (users > 350 million). You might think that the market for instant messaging platforms is saturated. Well, Google doesn’t think so. Exactly one week ago, Google has launched its very own instant messaging application. The name? Allo.
Google believes Allo to be more than what we are familiar with. This instant messaging application will not only bring you in contact with people, it will serve as your personal assistant as well.
As a typical Google product, Allo is also a source for Google to collect data from its users. According to Google, collecting data is essential to make Allo more intelligent (nos.com, 2016).
At the same time, Google provides Allo with end-to-end encryption, which means that neither Google, nor the government will gain access to the user’s messages.
To make it even more private, Allo enables the user to chat in the incognito-mode. This function gives the user the opportunity to choose for how long a certain chat will be saved. After this, the chat will automatically be removed from the user’s list of chats.
With the release of Allo, Google seems to combine its competitor’s core functions in just one app; the ease of Whatsapp, the secret messaging of Telegram, and the intelligence of WeChat.
The question remains, why is Google so late with introducing Allo?
All these news about Allo made me curious, so I have downloaded the application to see what it is all about.
As soon as I click the Chat-button, the Google assistant introduces itself by starting a chat conversation. The Google assistant answers many questions and reminds me of Apple’s Siri. Restaurants, shops, supermarkets, but also personal questions can be asked.
The more the user types, the more intelligent Google assistant gets. The so-called Smart Reply function of Allo saves the often-used words and sentences of the user, enabling the user to easily select these words or sentences the next time. This means that the user’s content is being registered and analyzed, but at the same time, it makes instant messaging a lot more ‘instant’.
With more than 1 million downloads in its first week, Allo gets pretty much attention from iOS and Android users (9to5google.com, 2016).
Although there are many privacy concerns about this new data-collecting app, I expect this all-in-one app to appeal to many people as soon as the content gets more interesting, which can only be realized if the user allows Google to collect more and more data.
In this society where everybody seems to care about their privacy, while at the same time they all have at least three social media accounts on which every aspect of their lives is shared with the outside world, I am wondering whether Allo will survive.
References:
https: //www.androidplanet.nl/apps/google-allo-beschikbaar/
http: //nos.nl/artikel/2133531-googles-slimme-chat-app-moet-strijd-aangaan-met-whatsapp-messenger.html
https: //www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/09/26/chatapps-chat-4461959-a1523391
https: //9to5google.com/2016/09/24/google-allo-passes-the-1-million-downloads-mark-on-the-google-play-store/
