Google revamps its in-depth video strategy – ZDNet France

Google makes this week a few adjustments to its videoconferencing applications. The company is first end Hangouts on Air, a Hangouts feature that allowed to broadcast a video conversation between several speakers to the public. Hangouts on Air will cease operations effective September 12, and it is already impossible to plan a public lecture after that date. Google invites users to switch to its new live streaming service available on Youtube, which offers streaming functionality comparable to Hangouts On Air.
 

Google operates indeed a reorganization of its various video services, the launch of a new application called Google Duo. It proposes a videoconferencing service on mobile only and tries to focus exclusively on the experience of a conversation between two users. No conference to several participants here or advanced features: Google Duo is simple to access and relies on it for a fully mobile experience. The application does not in fact has equivalent desktop.
 

Google Duo requires no account creation, but retrieves the phone number of the device. Similarly, contacts are used directly from the issue of this directory on the phone. A simple and devoid approach multiple features offered by some competing applications, but has the merit of being a tool accessible to the greatest number.
 

When asked by the website The Verge, Nick Fox director of communications division at Google says that these ads are the result of a strategic repositioning of Google in this regard. He explains that the company intends to position Duo and Allo, his future messaging application, for the public hangouts and keep for professional use within the company. Google therefore wants to play the card of clarity to position itself in this area already largely occupied by competitors like Facebook and Messenger application or Apple with Facetime.