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Allo vs WhatsApp: Google needs to market app to dethrone WhatsApp
Similar to WhatsApp, Allo works using your mobile number, so you can use it to send text messages to anyone in your phonebook and not just other Allo users — a feature not present on WhatsApp. The app also comes with an incognito mode which allows users the choice to encrypt or destroy chats with selected contacts.
Google on Wednesday launched its messaging application Allo, pitting the internet giant against Facebook-owned WhatsApp, the world’s most-used instant messenger.
Allo comes loaded with Google Assistant, an intelligent application that helps you access Google Search without opening a browser or another app.
Similar to WhatsApp, Allo works using your mobile number, so you can use it to send text messages to anyone in your phonebook and not just other Allo users — a feature not present on WhatsApp. The app also comes with an incognito mode which allows users the choice to encrypt or destroy chats with selected contacts.
Despite integrated search capabilities, analysts believe that it will be an uphill task for Google to mount a challenge against WhatsApp.
“Allo is a much smarter app but it will take Google a long time to break WhatsApp’s dominance in India as a lot of people are already on WhatsApp and they need enough time to experience Allo,” said Vishal Tripathi, research director at Gartner.
Earlier this year Facebook debuted bots that allowed users to chat with the app to get details such as weather reports and shopping suggestions among other things. Allo, on the other hand, does not use chats and retrieves suggestions by scanning the user’s behaviour . If you receive a lunch invitation, Allo will automatically give you restaurant suggestions.
WhatsApp, which does not have an any such inbuilt facilities, currently leads the world instant messaging sector with over a billion users — a little over 100 million of whom are present in India.
Jack Kent, director, mobile at IHS Technology, believes that one-stop solution apps are no longer the future. “The top messaging apps claim a combined audience of around five billion monthly active users indicating that many people use multiple apps. One of the keys to messaging app success is the network effect of having a wider group of one’s contacts using the same app,” Kent said.
“Given the number of apps in the market, it will be a challenge to quickly capture market share. Instead, the focus should be on how to provide a differentiated or improved experience that will gradually attract users to build a separate network,” Kent explained adding that Google is aiming to use the quality of experience as one the main differentiators for its app.
But the differentiating features will need marketing. “Google’s marketing in emerging markets is not as powerful as in the US. It needs to add more muscle to quickly add users,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst of Greyhound Research, .
Allo’s success will help Google gather more user data — an area of focus for internet-based companies. “Google has been focusing on machine learning and artificial intelligence. Its new apps show it’s longer term strategic direction,” Kent said.
“Advertising remains, and will continue to remain, Google’s main revenue stream... Communications apps are increasingly becoming platforms for a wide range of content and services, and discovery experiences, so Google will not want to cede this territory to its competitors,” he explained.
Meanwhile, India is also home to several other chat apps such as Hike, Viber, Line, WeChat and Skype.
