Google is reportedly planning to launch a WhatsApp-like free mobile messaging app in India and other emerging markets, reports The Economic Times. This messenger is in early stages of development and is expected to be launched in 2015, the report said citing sources. The report also claims that it won’t be mandatory for Google’s messaging app users to use their Google logins. The company is also apparently planning to localize the product by introducing Indic language support and voice-to-text messaging. While Google’s hold on search still remains strong, the Mountain View, California-based company has failed to make an impact on the social and the social on mobile segments. Google’s highly anticipated social network Google+ turned out to be a disappointment. Also, Google’s forced integration of several Google+ features to its other popular products/services like YouTube, Google Calendar, and Gmail among others wasn’t appreciated by most users. And why didn’t Google offer Hangouts as a separate product? But if Google had been late in jumping onto the social bandwagon, it has left it till really late to enter the social on mobile space. It's really surprising, considering that Google owns the most widely used mobile operating system. Blackberry, which even during its heydays was used by far fewer people, had managed to turn its BBM messaging service into a brand and a service everyone wanted on their phones. Google’s mobile messaging app will have to contend with a number of competitors, including Line, WeChat, Hike and Viber, besides WhatsApp. WhatsApp, which claims to…
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