Chat: Google wants to compete Apple iMessage with its new Android default app.

After multiple attempts until last year with the launch of Allo and Duo apps, Google has never managed to find its place in the field. The firm, therefore, decided to stop its investments in the Allo app to concentrate on the Chat project.

Chat will be a new messaging app that will be installed by default on all Android smartphones. It will use the RCS, a standard to replace our old SMS generation.

It allows us to send images, interactive maps, contextual information or preview shared links like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Apple iMessage already does.

A web version is also planned to consult his messages.

About sixty Google partners have already assured the firm of their support. Among them are the French operator Orange and the manufacturers Samsung, Huawei, LG, and Microsoft.

The Chat project is supervised by Anil Sabharwal, former head of Google Photos, one of Google’s most successful applications in recent years.

No specific release date has been mentioned yet, but as Anil Sabharwal said to The Verge « by next year, (I think) most smartphone users will be able to enjoy this experience.”

Google is expected to provide more details on its application and release date at The Google IO, its annual developer conference which takes place at its U.S. headquarters in Mountain View, May 8-11.