After a failed attempt to acquire WhatsApp to Facebook, technology giant Google is planning to launch its own app. This is would be Google’s fresh attempt to enter into the chat space after Facebook outbid it in the $19 billion deal on WhatsApp. The new app is likely to be launched in 2015 and would be tested in emerging markets such as India. Apart from WhatsApp this app would compete in the mobile chat space with the likes of Line, WeChat, Viber and Hike. Though Google remains tight-lipped about this new product industry experts say Google is planning to go aggressive in this lucrative territory.
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Google already has its Hangouts app that allows users to chat with each other. But the new app would be built completely from scratch and unlike Hangout won’t require users to use their Google login information. It would be free to download and use. Google+ product manager Nikhyl Singhal has toured India last month to gather deep insights into the messaging app market in the emerging markets. In a bid to create competitive edge over the other players in the market the Mountain View, California-based company may also introduce localization features into its new app and add language support for major Indian languages and voice-to-text messaging feature.
Industry experts believe it will be an uphill task for Google to make deep inroads into the market with most of the existing players boasting of a million plus users and enjoying user loyalty. They feel Google has missed the social and social on mobile revolution with Google+ never coming close to Facebook in terms of market penetration and user activity. The new app would try and salvage some market from WhatsApp and other chat applications in the emerging markets where smart-phone and tablet penetration is set to increase in the coming years.
