Google is reportedly once again developing a new messaging app, but this one aims to consolidate functions of existing ones instead of bringing in new ones.
The news comes from The Information, which reports the technology company's new business app will fold in the functions of apps like Gmail and Drive, Google's online storage service.
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The report cites two people who have used the application and three people who were briefed about it who said the new app could help it better compete with app suites from the likes of Microsoft. The Redmond, Washington-based technology company has Office 365 app suite and the unified communication platform Microsoft Teams in its wheelhouse.
The same people say Hangouts Meet, Google's video conferencing app, and its real-time messaging app, Hangouts Chat, are among the apps included in the new one. Mashable reported Google is working to impress Fortune 500 companies to switch to its products, which are part of G Suite. It said that big corporations should find it easier to manage as a bundle.
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The new app follows Google’s other communications apps, some of which have now become defunct. Among the both exiting and non-existent are Google Voice, Google+ Messenger, Google Buzz, Spaces and Hangouts Chat. The latter business chat platform is involved in a plan to merge with Hangouts, Ars Technica reported. The two apps are not related.
In 2018, Google announced it would pull support for several messaging apps including its most popular one, Hangouts. Hangouts' migration into Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet was delayed until June 2020. Yet Allo, a smart messaging app, folded in 2019.
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