Search engine leader Google is reportedly working on a new messaging app torival the likes of WhatsApp,WeChat, Line and Hike in a bid to capture a share of the instant messaging world.
According to the Economic Times report published Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter, Google is likely to test the messaging app in India and other emerging markets soon.
Let’s not pretend that Google Plus is of any significant relevance when compared to Facebook and Twitter. The rumored WhatsApp competitor is supposedly going to be tested in emerging markets including India, with Mountain View bosses already having sent one of their product managers, Nikhyl Singhal, to check out the messenger app scene here and in the rest of Asia.
It might come to us automatically nowadays, but a lot of people are not used to the idea of signing into their Google accounts for full access to the various services provided by the company. Luckily, the messaging application in question will most probably do away with this requirement so that it works more like WhatsApp, and it may also be localized.
If the rumors turn out to be true, the new messenger service from Google will be free.
It is also touted that unlike most of the other services and products from Google, this one will not need any login for usage.
This certainly puts a lot of pressure on WhatsApp, which has been the numero uno in mobile messaging space. In recent times, India’s very own messenger Hike and China’s WeChat has also been gaining momentum, although none of them have the users as compared to WhatsApp.
Reports also have it that Google is probably looking to localize and add more value to the new chatting app for mobile by adding support for Indian languages.
There will be also extended support for voice-to-text messaging, the report further said.
Despite repeated attempts, a Google spokeswoman chose not to comment on the speculation, which leaves further room for more doubts on whether such an app is on the way.
A spokeswoman from Google said the company does not prefer to comment on speculations.
WhatsApp, which was taken over by Facebook, continues to be the biggest mobile messaging app for now, which is free for the first year of use.