Sorry, Clubhouse. You Are Late. We Don’t Need that Android App Anymore
Clubhouse app interest reached its peak in February 2021. Everyone was talking about the new potential unicorn. An amazingly simple idea turned into an app everybody wanted to download. But not everybody was able to.
Initially, Clubhouse focused on the iOS audience and was polishing the app for quite a long time. According to recent OS market share statistics, the team was targeting only 27% of the mobile market users, at the time when other 82% were screaming “Give us Clubhouse Android app”.
They were screaming so loud, that dozens of other companies heard them and presented their Clubhouse alternatives.
Clubhouse is not an app. It’s a feature
The technology behind Clubhouse is not unique. The service uses an API for live streaming and audio interaction called Agora.
You get what this means, right? The app is just an interface around a technology anyone can pay for and start using within a few days. Clubhouse is something quite easy to replicate.
I tried to google “Clubhouse alternatives” and came across tens and tens of app clones. Besides, the well-established software companies integrated the Clubhouse-like feature into their apps. So you can now attend a live audio stream with a different number of speakers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Reddit. And these are potential Clubhouse killers. Would you spend your time downloading and setting up an account on a completely new app, when you have the desired feature in the service you already use? Would you wait for an invite to join the closed club when you can attend or hold a stream right in the app where you already have your loyal audience?
Clubhouse revealed demand and showed how to fill it. At the time when the company was betting on their iOS audience, dozens of companies around the world were busy filling the gap for the rest of the users. And many of them succeeded.
You won’t find Elon Musk on Clubhouse clone
One of the reasons for the enormous popularity of Clubhouse was rooms with celebrities, so many users were hunting for invites to attend a live event with an idol. And one of the main arguments against Clubhouse clones was that you never find Elon Musk there.
Well, you won’t find him on Clubhouse either. The discussion involving Musk happened in February 2021, and since that time the combination of “Musk” and “Clubhouse” in the headlines appeared more often than “Musk” and “Tesla”.
The truth is, there’s no information about any appearances of Elon Musk in Clubhouse after this initial event. So, if the exclusive ability to listen to celebrities live was your reason to join Clubhouse — sorry for disappointing you.
Clubhouse is officially coming to the Android platform
In May 2021, the company announced an official Android app. It’s now available in beta and soon every smartphone user will be able to join Clubhouse.
Unfortunately, it’s too late. Android users wanted it desperately when the whole business world got obsessed with Clubhouse and announced useful discussions one after another. But the hype is over. So is the demand.
Someone expects that the launch of the Android app will bring some fresh blood and this Google Trends graph will look a bit more optimistic for Clubhouse. But I don’t believe that’s possible.
The technology stack behind Clubhouse is not a secret anymore and it inspires developers from around the globe to introduce their vision of what a streaming app should be like. Companies enhance their corporate software with Clubhouse-like features. The era of live streams is here, so prepare for new releases and updates.
Clubhouse has shown us the blue ocean, but competition turned it red in a really short time. And it seems like Clubhouse itself has to try harder to survive.
