Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) FaceTime video calling application is popular among iOS and Mac users. That’s enough to make it a target for Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), a company that has turned tormenting Apple with competing products into an art form.
On Tuesday, Google began rolling out Duo, a cross-platform video calling app that takes on FaceTime while offering something Apple’s original lacks: cross-platform compatibility.
Google is promoting a number of features that it feels make Duo a compelling reason to switch from FaceTime, Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Skype or video chatting on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Messenger.
Duo originally was announced at this year’s Google I/O conference, and officially began rolling out on Aug. 16. Google says it will be live worldwide over the next few days.
In a blog post promoting the release, Alphabet laid out the reasoning for why someone would want to drop a video calling application they may have been using for years in favor of Google’s new app.
Duo Features
Among Duo’s key features are its simple interface and the lack of a required account to use it. Callers need only enter their own phone number into the app to get started, then punch in the phone number they want to call.
Speed and reliability also are emphasized. Google says Duo intelligently manages video calls to keep connections reliable without stuttering or dropped calls. Duo adjusts video resolution on the fly based on the available bandwidth and seamlessly switches between Wi-Fi and cellular connections. Security and privacy are spiked out, with Google noting that Duo calls feature end-to-end encryption. Incoming calls must originate from a phone number in your Contacts list, so there is no fear of unexpectedly encountering the face of a salesperson on an incoming Duo video call.
In other words, the pain points of video calling are eliminated. Especially those that a less tech-savvy user might find frustrating.
Cross-Platform Is the Key
But the primary selling point of Duo (and the part that Apple is going to hate) is that Google Duo is cross-platform, working with both iOS and Android. That eliminates one of the biggest complaints about FaceTime, that it only works between Apple products. By making the Duo app available for both iOS and Android, the users of the two largest mobile platforms can make video calls to each other without having to worry about setting up accounts or knowing each others’ user names. They just need to know their telephone number.
There are plenty of mixed-platform families out there who would love to have an easy way to make video calls between devices without having to jump through the hoops of setting up accounts on Skype or Facebook. The ease of use and engineering Google has put into making Duo calls the most reliable possible are an added bonus.
Apple doesn’t monetize FaceTime, but its default iOS apps including FaceTime are all part of the iPhone experience. And the last thing Apple wants is to have another Google app supplant one of its own on an iPhone.
Google Duo also will be quashing the halo effect. Up to now, someone with an iPhone who wanted easy, on-demand video calling capability with a friend or family member would result in a little more incentive toward that other person also buying an iPhone. Google Duo can achieve the same capability regardless of whether one or either parties owns an iPhone or an Android smartphone. So that incentive disappears.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
