Google wasted a perfect chance to steal users from WhatsApp.

Rather than drop the ball, it just let it roll by. The company was delivered the perfect moment to list its selling points over Facebook's messaging apps. You don't even need to download another messaging app like WhatsApp just pick it up and go. It works well with the Samsung Galaxy S21, and you won't even notice a difference from Samsung's old app. Isn't that fun, fellow kids? Oh, do you like Duo? There's easy access to the video calling app there. Think Facebook is prying into your messages? Highlight end-to-end encryption so it can guarantee that your messages are safe. Were Google better prepared with its messaging around the Messages app, it would have pounced on the credibility gap left by WhatsApp that these other two companies benefited from. Now Telegram boasts around 500 million daily active users, and Signal has marked itself out as a tool that's used by everyone who wants secure messaging. But fast iteration and a dedicated userbase pushed their apps steadily forward. Both flew under the radar in relative obscurity. That's not to say that there is an unbreakable stalemate in the messaging app world. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Joe Maring / Android Central) Complicating that with the fact that Google Messages has already existed as an app that's a known quantity as a simple, plain, SMS app, and it's a perfect storm for irrelevance. The company can't very well advertise a cool new Android feature when not everyone has it, so it misses out on its chance to tout these new features while they're still new and most interesting. This also hamstrings Google's 'messaging' about Messages. By the time the rollout is stabilized over one or two years, Google Messages wouldn't be considered an option as many people would already have actively decided against using it. If Alice can, but only on Tuesdays because the server rolled it out once and then rolled it back, and Craig got it once, and then it vanished after a week when Alice changed sim-cards so then only Brenda can use it, it'll be quickly ruled out as an option. If your friend Craig can use the Google Chat in Messages, but Alice can't, you're more likely to use a third-party app instead. Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)

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