Google's communication apps are now led by a single team

XDA

Google's messaging and communication apps are now led by a single team

By Joe Fedewa

Published May 7, 2020

The Google Messages, Google Phone, and Google Duo apps will now be under the same leadership as Google Meet and Google Chat.

If you are a person who follows technology news, you're likely familiar with Google's messaging problem. The company has launched many messaging services and several of these attempts have ended up abandoned, merged into different services, or rebranded. Google has repeatedly stated that they're aware of this issue and they're trying to clean things up. Its latest move is putting all of its communication apps under the same leadership.

Currently, Google has three main communication apps:

Google Phone - Pre-installed dialer on Pixel and Android One devices.
Google Duo - Video-calling for consumers, available to everyone in the Play Store.
Google Messages - Default SMS and RCS app on some devices, available to everyone in the Play Store.

In addition to these three apps, Google also has Meet and Chat for G Suite customers. Javier Soltero was made the VP and GM of G Suite last year, which put him in charge of Meet and Chat. Soltero is behind the recent rebranding of Hangouts Meet and Chat. Now, Google is also putting him in charge of Phone, Duo, and Messages.

Previously, each of these services had a team that was operated largely independently from the others within Google. That's why it's not uncommon to see key features come to one service before the others. The apps themselves won't be merging together, but the teams behind them will be combined under Soltero's leadership.

The new team hopes to “drive more innovation and more clarity around how these products can fulfill their specific missions.” It doesn't sound like Soltero plans to make any major changes right away. He even says it would be "irresponsible" to make rapid changes. It is worth noting, however, that it's common at times of big change to say nothing will change, so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Google's statement:

We are bringing all of Google’s collective communication products together under one leader and unified team that will be led by Javier Soltero, VP and GM of G Suite. Javier will remain in Cloud, but will also join the leadership team under Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP of Platforms and Ecosystems. Outside of this update, there are no other changes to the personnel and Hiroshi will continue to play a significant role in our ongoing partnership efforts.

Source: The Verge