Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    • Customer & Digital Experience
    • Digital Transformation
    • Data
    • Marketing Management
    • Marketing Operations
    • Performance Marketing
    • Special Reports
    • All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Customer & Digital Experience » Allo: Google again moves deck chairs on its sinking Titanic in the messaging wars

Allo: Google again moves deck chairs on its sinking Titanic in the messaging wars

Yet another messaging app from Google, with little reason to expect it to be a success.

Danny Sullivan on September 21, 2016 at 5:16 pm | Reading time: 4 minutes

google-allo1-1920

Hey! Google has a new messaging app out today called Allo. Pity I can’t send you a text message about it. Allo can’t handle that, not from my actual number, which is a core failing out of the box. It’s a failing Google can’t afford with yet another messaging app.

The glory that was Google Voice

I am a long-time Google messaging app user. Let me go back to Google Voice, a wonderful program that lets you use one phone number for any phone you have. Free SMS messages. The ability to search all your messages. Messages sent also to Gmail.

Not using Google Voice? That’s because Google barely acknowledges that it exists these days. It stopped development on the Google Voice app ages ago. It sits there like a relic of bygone years. And if you try to use it, Google pushes you to use Google Hangouts.

Google Hangouts, if at first you don’t succeed

Remember Google Hangouts? That was supposed to be Google’s big push to get people messaging the Google way. It has all the features of Google Voice except, you know, the ability to search your messages. Search — Google’s core competency, omitted. In other words, a downgrade. But if you were a Google Voice user, you likely took the downgrade for a better UI plus the ability to get MMS.

Allo? Is it me you’re not likely looking for?

Now we have Allo. It has all the features of Google Hangouts except, um, it won’t send text messages from your number. Yes, it will send messages via SMS. But your actual number won’t be used. Instead, a short code will be. And those who get it can’t reply back from their actual number.

Why does this matter? Allo is trying to push aside existing messaging apps that are out there. If you’re using one of those for text messaging, and thinking of trying Allo, you might want to use both side-by-side. Allo prevents this.

Consider the situation with me and my wife. I loaded up Allo and sent a text to her number. Allo even told me it was going to her number. And, she received it on her iPhone in the Apple Messages app. But she received it not from my number but instead from a short code associated only with my Allo account. When she replied to it, it went back only to my Allo account.

In a perfect Google world, this wouldn’t be a problem. We’d both get Allo and live in a beautiful Allo world. But it’s not like we don’t have other contacts out there who aren’t going to use Allo. So now, we have to use two messaging apps: Allo and something else for the Allo refuseniks.

Does anyone think that’s going to happen much? Sure, there’s a chance — as with Facebook pushing Messenger, where because so many people had Facebook accounts already with contacts, that was pretty fully formed with a social cloud. But Allo? This is starting from scratch.

A choice too far?

Go back to the last attempt, Google Hangouts. There, you could SMS from your own number and people would reply back to your number. It meant you could use Hangouts and another messaging app. You could get comfortable with Hangouts and let go of your other app when you wanted.

Not so with Allo. It separates up your contacts, a tough commitment to make with a new messaging app.

The main sweetener here is Google Assistant, which promises to do amazing things to make your life easier. In my testing so far, some of those things are just as easily done doing regular Google searches. Some indeed show promise — but don’t really require being in a messaging app to deliver.

Google Assistant is coming to other apps, so if Allo fails, that doesn’t mean the end of it. And maybe Google Assistant will work as the bot-don’t-call-it-a-bot for Google in the way that Facebook is banking on bots making its messaging app an even bigger force to reckon with.

We will see. My money for success would instead have been on launching Google Assistant on its own, or at the very least, bundling it within Google Hangouts.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Why martech integration needs more than technical skills
    An incredibly brief guide to shifting marketing offshore
    The latest jobs in martech
    Google favors helpful content over search engine-first in new update
    PGA TOUR transforms fan experience, analytics and customer feedback

About The Author

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Related Topics

Customer & Digital ExperiencePerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Tracking Growth From Organic Search

Beyond the Buzzword: Transform Digitally to Drive Organic & SEO Growth

Leap or Linger: Determining Which Ad Platforms to Test for Your B2B Brand

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise Marketing Performance Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Account-Based Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results

See More Whitepapers
Search Our Site

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.