Google ignores Hangouts and Google Voice during the I/O keynote
Google I/O is going on right now in California, and during the keynote earlier this morning, Google had quite a few announcements that both developers and end users can enjoy. Over the next few days, we’ll be delving deeper into some of the announcements that have caught our attention, but there’s one huge, glaring omission that I want to bring up right now: what the hell is going on with Google Hangouts and Google Voice?
In case you’ve forgotten already, Google Hangouts just turned a year old last month. Google announced it at I/O in 2013, and during the keynote started rolling out the update that brought everyone over from Google Chat and Google Talk. Google also said at the same time that Google Hangouts was the future of Google Voice. All of Google Voice’s current functionality – and perhaps some new stuff, too – would be rolled into Google Hangouts throughout the rest of 2013, and Google Hangouts on Android would even catch up to its iOS counterpart and offer integrated VOIP calling by “early 2014.”
It’s now June. It’s been over a year. I’m still waiting – Google Voice is still a completely separate app and service, and Google Hangouts remains practically the same as it did a year ago, with just a few enhancements over the original version.
What’s the hold up, Google? What’s going on here? I thought the lack of updates and announcements meant you were waiting for I/O, but I guess I’m wrong.
Is anyone else starting to get really impatient?
