DISCONTINUED PRODUCT- (App or Feature).
I promised to share weekly updates on my transitioning into Product Management. Well, I haven’t really been committed to that. Transitioning from a Non-Tech path into a Tech career like Product Management has really been a rigorous process.
Having to start learning new terminologies like Wireframes, prototype, APIs, Scrum, Agile, User stories, User persona, Road maps, OKRs and KPIs, MRDs and PRDs etc has really been a handful. 😩
Nonetheless, I am having a swell time doing all of these as research and learning is pertinent to me.
I am currently participating in a 2-weeks WomenTechsters virtual Bootcamp.
Our facilitator Theodora Isola for the product management learning track, Women Techsters bootcamp Cohort 4 Tech4Dev asked that we make a research on a product or a feature that has been discontinued and state the reason for their decline phase.
My research was based on a messaging app by Google- Allo.
Allo was an instant messaging mobile app created by Google for Android and iOS mobile operating systems. This app was created with the purpose of fielding a viable messaging alternative to the Facebook messenger or the WhatsApp or the Apple iMessage.
The app was launched on September 21st, 2016. It’s features weren’t any different from the WhatsApp messenger or some other already popular messaging apps. It was just another good enough messaging app.
At the end of 2018, Google confirmed Allo would be shutting down after it failed to gain traction.
The reason for its decline includes;
1. Low User base: Allo had less than 50 million users compared to the Billions of users Whatsapp and Facebook messenger had. This really affected the end user experience because anyone that downloads the Allo app found out that it is just 10-15 of his contact list that uses the App, thereby making it insufficient and by impulse, making users switch back to other regular messaging apps.
2. Few basic functionalities missing: When the app was first developed, there were few basic functionalities the app lacked such as voice chats, video chats and default integration with SMS for Android users.
3. As earlier stated, the Google Allo had no real differentiating feature. It was just another regular messaging app. There was no special feature that could lure users to the app.
On March 12th, 2019 Google shut down the Allo app.
For more information on Allo by Google visit;
There are many other learnings and research works I would be sharing with you as you follow me on this journey of my transitioning into Product Management. Trust me, there’s is a lot to be learnt and there are thousands of ideas to be shared..
You can drop your opinions, advices, questions, suggestions and all via the comment section.
I am just a Business Development Officer who is so interested in Tech and is very excited sharing her transitioning to Product Management.
