SKEMA Digital Marketing: WHAT ON EARTH IS GOOGLE ALLO?

Google Allo is a new native application released by Google on september 21st. In only 3 days, Google counted more than 1 000 000 installs on the play store (for android). In a nutshell, it is a new messaging app joining the competition of many other ones already implanted in the market as Whatsapp, Telegram, iMessage, Viber and more. However, Google promised new interesting features to make users fall in love with this new mean of communication. On the first look, it seems like a typical messaging app like the other ones. But this one is special, why? Because we are talking about Google! And two amazing features make the app different than the other ones. Google chose to integrate a “Google Assistant”, allowing the user to get help from Google without leaving the conversation he is having. The assistant suggests restaurants and everything else you could ask Google in general. It is a new chatbot, creating interaction with Google such as having a conversation with one of your friends. The Smart Reply is very interesting too, Google analyses the messages you receive and makes suggestions based on previous messages allowing you to see potential responses, which avoids you to write. It works also with images: For example, if a graduation photo is sent, Google can analyse it and can suggest responses to congratulate your friend!

We invite you to watch the Google Keynote presentation, on the video bellow.

Google Allo may seem appealing to its customers, but it certainly has some weaknesses. Edward Snowden, NSA leaker, is warning from a security breach, calling the app dangerous and unsafe (Collins, 2016). It will "record every message you ever send and make it available to police upon request". Artificial Intelligence performs better the more data it has at its disposal and online privacy is getting more and more volatile and is leading to Snowden’s privacy advocates’ concerns.

The app is not private by default, meaning that the user has to go to his privacy settings first to manage his confidentiality. There is a choice to do between normal and incognito, the second choice claiming to encrypt end to end conversations. Besides, the app needs to be connected to the Google account of its user to offer its smart suggestions. Critics say that Google Allo’s look is very similar to WhatsApp, but still cleaner and more modern. Moving on to Google Allo’s strengths, the smart reply features linked to Artificial Intelligence is a good point. It is a step forward to its competition and shows that Google is investing in technologies of the future, argument they can use in their sales pitch.

What’s good for Google is not necessarily good for its users. In our opinion, users of all kind of apps have to keep in mind that if something is free, it is still making money in a way, often to the disadvantage of the user and might interfere with his privacy.