Disco 3.0, Google's Undercover Messaging App, Is Here

All of the Google+ hype may actually be a good thing for the Slide team working inside Google on a set of completely unrelated social apps and services, since it enables it to move forward largely unnoticed.

The first and most advanced such app is Disco, a group messaging app that recently got a large update. Disco 3, the new version, adds several new features and polish, making it a solid contender in the rather disputed space.

Disco was launched about three months ago, at the end of March, and the team has already gone through three versions, each with significant improvements, considering the time frame.

One big new feature in Disco 3 is photo sharing, which is becoming the standard for this type of apps, which enables users to share pics with their friends inside the app.

There is also the possibility of chatting with just one of your contacts, which may come in handy even though this is a group messaging app.

Another big change in the latest version, an interesting one coming from Google, is the Twitter and Yelp integration. You can start following Twitter users and start getting updates inside Disco and you can also check out Yelp reviews.

Again, there's nothing from Google here, only from its competitors. Granted, they're probably the best choice, there's no argument about Twitter, and these are the choices a startup may have made, but not a team working within Google.

Whatever Google is doing with Slide, it seems to be working, the team now has three social apps going, none of which are related to Google in any way.

And they've been able to iterate fast, build and launch new ideas quite easily, which is what Google has been trying by making teams more independent.

Google and Slide's longer term strategy is still mysterious, if there even is one. Google may just be placing a side bet, while most of its focus is on Google+ and the company-wide transformation.

This may have been a good thing for Slide, enabling the team to operate independently, but it could turn around and prove a disadvantage later on. [via TechCrunch]