Gmail is going to get a work focused revamp, as per leaked slides from Google’s upcoming Cloud Next presentation. The company had already added some minor integration with Meet a while back, but now it plans to weave in support for Chat as well. For the latter service, Google will add two tabs, one called “Chat” for one-on-one exchanges, while another will be called “Rooms” for group conversations. On the web, Google is adding side-by-side Google Doc editing directly from your email, so you don’t have to leave your inbox to make a quick edit or two.
@gmail – your new home for work. #GoogleCloudNext pic.twitter.com/3fSCIrLbNQ
— Tahin Rahman (@tahins) July 14, 2020
Compared to Outlook, Gmail has always been a very email focused product, focusing on that one thing and doing it well. Google did make some small concessions towards a multi-product workflow with the addition of the Tasks and Keep minibar, but this full-blown Docs integration will raise the ante on the web. On mobile, the addition of Chats may help push forward a product that while interesting, hasn’t seen as much spotlight as its video-counterpart in Meet, or its competitors in Slack and Teams.
Google also plans to bring more improvements to Google Meet including hand-raising, a Q&A feature, Zoom-like background replacement, background blur, polling, and more.
What’s next for Google Meet? #GoogleCloudNext pic.twitter.com/qOJjWpAHO9
— Tahin Rahman (@tahins) July 14, 2020
It’s expected that the company will give official timelines on Jul 21’s Google Cloud Next Productivity and Collaboration session.
