The desktop web client for Google Allo will be publicly released in a couple of months, according to Nick Fox, Vice President of Communications Products at Google. The Alphabet-owned company debuted a broad range of new services and product improvements at its Google I/O 2017 developer conference that started just yesterday but the Google Allo communications service wasn’t in the spotlight of its Keynote. Prior to the event, Fox took to Twitter to reveal that developers and users shouldn’t expect more details on the desktop browser version of Google Allo at Google I/O 2017 because the app’s development team is still in the process of optimizing the client that reportedly isn’t ready for a public release and is “still a month or two away.” While Fox noted that he personally uses the Google Allo web client on a daily basis and is “loving it,” Google’s VP didn’t provide any more details on the matter.
Given the vague wording of Fox’s statement, the public release of Google Allo for desktop browsers may come in late July or even be pushed back to a later date seeing how the company’s senior executive was careful to not make any specific promises. Google’s plans for Allo are currently unclear as the company hasn’t made any major announcements regarding its instant messaging (IM) solution in recent months, with some industry watchers pointing out how the service hasn’t really taken off in the West and is currently only enjoying a large popularity in Asia, particularly India. Regardless, Allo’s Google Play Store listing reveals that its Android version has been installed more than 50 million times as of early May, which is far from disappointing performance for an app that’s less than eight months old and is competing in an oversaturated market.
Apart from expanding the functionality of Allo, Google is also keen on releasing a desktop browser client for the service due to the fact that doing so would help grow its Google Assistant ecosystem. The text-based variant of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) companion is not only integrated into Allo but is also supported in the main smartphone version of the service as of today, and the Alphabet-owned company will likely continue looking for ways to bring its digital helper to more devices in the future.