No plans to shutdown Google Hangouts by 2020, says product leadGoogle Hangouts product lead Scott Johnston has issued a statement on Twitter denying plans for a shutdown of the service by 2020, though he does confirm the service will end for consumers. This comes after a report on 9to5Google yesterday, which said that the Hangouts messaging app will shut down by 2020.
The report, which was carried by several tech publications and by indianexpress.com was based on sources familiar with the product’s roadmap. However, Johnston has issued a statement saying there’s no definite date for when the service will shutdown.
Google Hangouts is the instant messaging service from the company that replaced the original GChat service. Hangouts was made a part of both the consumer version of Gmail and the enterprise version of Gmail, which is offered in GSuite.
Johnston called out the 9to5Google report and wrote on Twitter, “I run Hangouts and this is pretty shoddy reporting. No decisions made about when Hangouts will be shut down. Hangouts users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Your source is severely misinformed. You can do better.”
The focus with Hangouts Meet is on video conferences, while Hangouts Chat is more focused on instant messaging.
Meanwhile, 9to5Google has updated its report to include Johnston’s tweet and pointed out that Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat are part of the enterprise offering from Google. They also note that their report had talked about Hangouts Classic or the consumer version of the app, and that his tweet does confirm it will be shutting down.
Johnston’s replied to his original tweet in a series of posts saying, “The frustrating part about your reporting is it leaves the reader to jump to dramatic conclusions, because it is only half the story. Hangouts users will be migrated to Chat and Meet.”
He continues, “So while that will result in the eventual shut down of Hangouts classic (as we now call it), it doesn’t imply we are ending support for the use case supported by the product: messaging and meetings. As per your comment about the products being “entirely separate enterprise products,” this just represents a shallow understanding of the market and our products. Our apps are used by, consumers, enterprises, schools, governments, and the like.”
Check out his tweet below
Hey @hallstephenj, I run Hangouts and this is pretty shoddy reporting. No decisions made about when Hangouts will be shut down. Hangouts users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Your source is severely misinformed. You can do better.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
1/ I can’t comment on your sourcing, since I don’t have any details. The frustrating part about your reporting is it leaves the reader to jump to dramatic conclusions, because it is only half the story. Hangouts users will be migrated to Chat and Meet.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
2/ So while that will result in the eventual shut down of Hangouts classic (as we now call it), it doesn’t imply we are ending support for the use case supported by the product: messaging and meetings.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
3/ As per your comment about the products being “entirely separate enterprise products,” this just represents a shallow understanding of the market and our products. Our apps are used by, consumers, enterprises, schools, governments, and the like.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
4/ But this isn’t just true with Google Apps, it is true across the market. Line supports both businesses and consumers. As does Facebook Messenger. Dropbox. Even Teams recently opened to consumers. I could go on.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
5/ I’m assuming your quotes around “upgraded” implies you don’t think Chat/Meet are better. I’d point to large stuff like the platform, deep search, & dramatically improved handling of video/audio in meetings. Also small features like reactions and better handling of at-mentions.
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
6/ But these are subjective points, and they are my products, so I’m strongly biased. In the end, neither you, nor I will make this judgement. Our users will. Everything else is just talk. /FIN
— Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018
When it comes to messaging, Google’s Hangouts did not really take off in the consumer segment. Then the Allo messaging app was launched, which again failed to take on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger that have come to dominate the segment.
In the past, Google indicated that Hangouts was viewed more of an enterprise offering, and it looks like this will be true going forth in the future.
