Let’s face it, Google’s messaging strategy is a mess. There is some semblance of a plan to start centring their messaging around Rich Communication Services (RCS) through Android Messages and a new commit to the open source Chromium Gerrit points to native Android Messages support on Chrome OS.
The commit has a label of ‘Add a feature flag for CrOS Android Messages integration’, was first spotted over at XDA-Developers doesn’t really contain much information, however they’ve paired it with another commit which speaks about pairing an Android phone to the Chrome OS device.
Google has dabbled in web interfaces for Allo – their messaging product which is now on hold – but this reads more like an extension of RCS which is more suited to a more modern computing environment than simple text messaging.
There’s a long way to go before Google catches up to the iMessage world that Apple has created, and users are fast losing patience with Google’s haphazard approach to messaging, so hopefully this is a sign that Google is finally working on a true cross-platform messaging client.
