If there's anything Google loves more than messaging services, it's competing messaging services. We've seen it happen repeatedly with apps like Hangouts, Messages, and Allo, but the company's video chat services are nearly as convoluted. Last summer, it sounded like the plan was to eventually combine Meet and Duo into one application, capable of handling both consumers and businesses alike. As we head into 2022, that's no longer the case.
A new report from 9to5Google details Google's waning interest in the idea of offering a single app for placing a video call. Internally, the plan was known as Duet — get it? — with a unified team of workers at the company operating throughout 2020 under the assumption that the two apps would merge into one product. Late last year, however, leadership for the two apps informed employees that the Duet team was shifting to focusing on Meet's enterprise utilities, leaving behind any consumer direction altogether.
