“Google and Apple have battled each other for years for primacy over mobile users. Apple has proferred its superior devices, like the iPhone. Google has fought back with its Android operating system and a series of mobile apps ,” Brian X. Chen reports for The New York Times. “On Tuesday, Google underscored that strategy with the release of its latest mobile app: Duo, a video-calling app that is a direct alternative to Apple’s FaceTime.”
“People can only use FaceTime to call others who have Apple devices. But Duo lets you place video calls between Android and iPhone users, and sizably increases the universe of people with whom you can hold a video conversation,” Chen reports. “All of this feeds into Google’s strategy to attract iPhone users over to Android. Google’s apps generally work better on Android devices than on iPhones, so the more that people get hooked on Google’s core apps, the less incentive there is to stay loyal to Apple.”
“Last month, Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, repeatedly highlighted that the rate at which people were switching from Android-based devices to iPhones was the highest the company had seen,” Chen reports. “‘Our year-to-date iPhone sales to switchers are the greatest we’ve seen in any nine-month period,’ Mr. Cook said in the call, without disclosing precise figures.”
“For now, FaceTime is just as intuitive as Duo so I see no compelling reason to use Duo over FaceTime to call iPhone users,” Chen reports. “But if I had to video call an Android user, I would use Duo over other video-calling services like Skype or Facebook Messenger, which have more cluttered interfaces than Duo’s single-button approach.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Video calls from single-wides are set to skyrocket.
So, how long until Our Lady of Transitory Endeavor pulls the plug on this beta?
SEE ALSO:
Poor man’s iPhone: Android on the decline – February 26, 2015
Study: iPhone users are smarter and richer than those who settle for Android phones – January 22, 2015
Why Android users can’t have the nicest things – January 5, 2015
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Android users poorer, shorter, unhealthier, less educated, far less charitable than Apple iPhone users – November 13, 2013
IDC data shows two thirds of Android’s 81% smartphone share are cheap junk phones – November 13, 2013
CIRP: Apple iPhone users are younger, richer, and better educated than those who settle for Samsung knockoff phones – August 19, 2013
iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Study: Apple iPhone users richer, younger, more productive than other so-called ‘smartphone’ users – June 12, 2009
Right on. My kid has an old cheap alcatel android phone, total POS but he is only 10 and loves the idea that he has a *cell phone* even though it only works on home wireless.
This should make it easier to chat with him when i’m away. At the least he’ll get a kick out of it.
I’m not sure how smart that is. I totally understand the reasoning behind spending minimum on a cheap phone for a 10-year old (and I don’t want to go into the debate regarding the appropriate minimum age for a smartphone), but for me, being a father of two girls, I have serious misgivings about giving an Android to a child. The device has no built-in parental controls, not to mention there is no way for me to ensure (s)he won’t side-load apps of very questionable origin, bringing in malware of all sorts.
When my daughters reach the age I consider appropriate for a smartphone, they will get an iPhone (perhaps a used one, three model-years old, such as 5s today), which I can completely control. I can then disable app download without my explicit approval, restrict content ratings in Safari and elsewhere, and make their initial smartphone experience a bit more controlled one.
Even without ANY parental controls and restrictions, iPhone is still a much safer choice, as it doesn’t allow side-loading of apps from problematic sources, which prevents inadvertent installation of malware. In my school, kids (5th grade through high school) all get MacBook Airs. In my friend’s school, they get Windows. Our kids are of similar age, and while mine has had her MBA for the past four years, she has yet to encounter malware, while my friend has battled all sorts of Windows viruses over the past three years, re-formatting that laptop twice already. Android isn’t much better in the hands of kids when it comes to malware. I would rather not take that chance, just to save $50 over a used 5S.
I started my two girls with iPhones when they came out. Have not looked back since.
Yeah, get him an iPod Touch instead.
further, I’d rather not be the product of GOOGs data scraping and NSA-disclosing for any personal communication.
ditto…………..I’ll pass on another “free” Screwoogle service app…..
Another Apple product “killer”…
and we know how they all turned out
I hope it wins. Apple (Jobs) promised Facetime would be an open standard, then reneged.
The answer is spherical, and in the plural.
=:~)
Nothing will ever be able to approach the simplicity of FaceTime, due to its deep and complete integration into the iOS. You don’t facetime people by opening FaceTime ap and looking up their names. You intuitively do that from your phone app. It is the natural thing to do: you want to call someone, you open up your phone; there, you have your speed-dial list, your last call list, and your contacts. From any one of these, you can find the person you want to call and instead of dialing their number the old-fashioned way (by tapping the phone icon), you simply tap on the FaceTime icon and the call is made. Even the ringtone (for the recipient) is the same as when getting a phone call.
To use this ‘Duo’, you’d have to go into a different app, and that makes it no different from Skype, Viber, ooVoo, Tango, Peer, Google Hangouts… And all of those already have a long and well-established track record.
The Android Intent system may easily allow Google to add video chat apps as communications options via the default phone app in a future update.
Never trust anything from evil Google.
Friends don’t let friend own Android phones so the point is?
And again the only way they can really attract people is to not charge money for their product.
Likely won’t work on any but the latest Android versions.
Appears that requirement for version is Jelly Bean and up (v4.1+).
Now, with a built-in de-ugly-fying filter they could be doing the world some good with this one!
How many times have we heard of apps or features or devices that are “Killer” to some apple app, feature or device?
Those ANALyst never learn.
I am not saying this google feature won’t work, I am just saying that 99.99% some one predicts something will kill something from apple and they are wrong, but when ever apple release a new device or feature that will kill some other device or even a company, those poor brainless bastards predict apple will fail. I won’t ask “when are they going to learn” because I just learn that they won’t ever.
Well that was a doozy of disinformation. I’ll pick just one…
“Google’s apps generally work better on Android devices than on iPhones”
More fully featured maybe but work better?
My standard test of processing muscle is Google’s own highly capable photo editing app Snapseed. Any time someone says “look how fast my Amdroid phone is” I get them to download the app and do the same Save an editable copy with some heavy processing. My iPhone 6 wins hands down sometimes by half a minute or so. It never takes more than 5 or 6 seconds. My son-in-law’s new Sammy S7 can’t match Apples two year old processing capability.
The rest of the article reads like paid-for flannel.
I guess no one has actually attempted to,download it — because it’s not actually available in the App Store yet.
Yet, everyone reporting it as being available.
Shoddy reporting.
Does Duo work on a Mac ? I like that I can make/receive FaceTime calls when I’m working.
Nope. I haven’t found any reference to Duo being ported to anything but iOS and Android.
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/meet-google-duo-simple-1-to-1-video.html
Promising security, for a change:
Google Duo: Now Official With End-To-End Encryption
The app comes with a unique feature, Knock Knock, that allows users to see live video of the caller befor they answer.
The new video calling app is also well secured with company taking care of all privacy issues and end-to-end encryption during all Duo calls.