In 2013, Google Talk got an in-place upgrade to Google Hangouts, which was (primarily) suitable with Googles OG chat service. Now, Google Hangouts users will be flawlessly upgraded to Google Chat, resulting in 16 years of turbulent-but-functional Google messaging.
Needing to be compatible with Google Hangouts– to date, Googles best-ever messaging app– suggests its also a worthy successor to Google Hangouts. You might fill a graveyard with Googles previous instant-messaging apps, but– and I cant think Im going to compose this– I truly believe Google Chat has a much better chance at survival than its numerous ancestors. Hangouts and Google Chat are both Google products, but Googles numerous departments do not truly work together or collaborate in the end.

Slacks user growth since 2014, one year after Hangouts was established.

Google Chat officially released for consumers just recently, and that means the time has come to dive back into everybodys favorite topic: Google messaging services!
In 2013, Google Talk got an in-place upgrade to Google Hangouts, which was (mainly) suitable with Googles OG chat service. Now, Google Hangouts users will be effortlessly upgraded to Google Chat, resulting in 16 years of turbulent-but-functional Google messaging.
These days it seems like all I do is spread out doom and gloom about Googles newest shutdowns or dead-on-arrival messaging app rollouts. Understand up front that Google Chat is in fact pretty great! Needing to be compatible with Google Hangouts– to date, Googles best-ever messaging app– indicates its likewise a worthy follower to Google Hangouts. This app has great deals of customer support, online accounts rather of the restricted phone number system pushed by Google Pay and Google Allo, and a smooth shift process for your existing contacts and chats. Its not as totally featured as more steady chat systems that have been around for many years, however if youre searching for the fundamentals throughout lots of devices, this 1.0 variation of Google Chat is honestly okay.
Google has administered over some dumpster-fire service transitions just recently. However when the inescapable Google Hangouts shutdown arrives (date still TBD), our time with Google Chat up until now suggests that wont be a huge disaster.
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You could argue that Slack does not take on Google Workspace, given that they often complement each other. Microsoft Office 365 certainly does complete with Google Workspace, however, and when Microsoft Teams removed, Office 365 had a competitive business chat app and Google Workspace did not. Google Workspace is a significant enterprise product from Google. It needs to compete in business chat, and its selected warrior is Google Chat.
Were covering the customer launch of Google Chat, however, which will eventually suck up an army of consumer users when it replaces Google Hangouts. So why is Google Chat also a business chat app? No one actually knows outside of Google. Googles actions over the last 16 years have actually indicated that it doesnt think consumer messaging is an important service worthwhile of continued, stable financial investment. Individual employees start a job, but if they leave or get promoted, nobody picks up the mantle and the job passes away. Frequently, no one at the business grieves or even notices the death. This remains in contrast to services like Ads, Search, Gmail, Chrome, or Android, which can have many personnel changes yet will keep running. Theyre considered crucial.
I wish to tension that this is the complete reverse of how the majority of Googles rivals believe. iMessage, for instance, is definitely a pillar of the Apple ecosystem, and Apple called it “one of the most crucial apps in a mobile environment.” Googles reasoning seems to be “customer messaging does not show ads and therefore is not deserving of long-term support.” If we follow that line of thinking, piggy-backing a totally free, consumer chat app onto your moneymaking enterprise chat app makes some amount of sense.
Being “enterprise very first” likewise discusses some of the more bizarre UI choices of Google Chat. Some parts of the UI are the manner in which they are since that supplies a rough facsimile of Slack. The rest of us simply type of have to handle it, but its strange in practice.

Enterprise initially: Why Google Chat actually has a chance at survival
You could fill a graveyard with Googles previous instant-messaging apps, but– and I cant believe Im going to compose this– I genuinely believe Google Chat has a much better chance at survival than its lots of forefathers. In spite of Googles machine-gun fire of messaging-app releases, until now Google has never ever launched a messaging app with a strong money making plan.
Google Chat grew out of the Google Workspace (previously called “G Suite”) department as a rival to Slack. Google charges money for Workspace, and that makes it one of the more steady branches of Googles item line. Making money usually indicates survival, and Google Chat will be generating income as part of Workspace.
Technically, Hangouts spent some time as part of the Google Workspace package, too, but Im filing the ultimate death of Hangouts under “not developed here” syndrome. Hangouts and Google Chat are both Google items, but Googles different divisions dont truly work together or coordinate in the end.
Hangouts was ultimately embraced by the G Suite department, but it never ever really satisfied the needs of services, so it was discarded.

In the years because Google Hangouts released, Slack has become a business juggernaut. A business chat app is the typical way businesses communicate now, specifically with work-from-home becoming an increasing reality. If you want to put a dollar quantity on the value of an excellent enterprise chat app, its apparently $27.7 billion, which is just how much Salesforce paid to obtain Slack this December. Seasonal Google rival Microsoft delved into the business chat market, too, introducing Microsoft Teams in 2017. Teams is, think it or not, bigger than Slack now.
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Expand/ Google Chat, in just some of its numerous form aspects.