Google Takes Aim At Amazon Mayday With Android Nexus Live Support Screen Sharing
Google is currently building a live support app with screen-sharing capabilities for its Nexus line of smartphone. The goal is to create a feature similar to Amazon’s Mayday button found on Fire tablets and the defunct Fire Phone.
In the past, Google support has been particularly challenging for those who have bought their phones online. A screen-sharing feature would make this experience less frustrating for customer and would allow Google’s tech support to presumably resolve issues more quickly. At this point, however, we know very little about what screen-sharing feature will offer. It is safe to assume that chat or live audio would be included, though it is unclear if Google’s tech support would also be able to control or manipulate the shared screen in any way.
This is not the first time Google has hinted that they were working on screen-sharing. In early 2015, Google announced that it was working on a 24-7 live-tech support called “Hangouts Assistance” for Android Silver smartphones. Silver devices were supposed to be high-end, stock Android smartphones. Unfortunately, this plan never came to fruition. Silver smartphones never appeared possibly because there was a lack of interest from OEM’s.
Amazon Mayday is currently a feature only available on Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9", Fire HDX 8.9, and Fire Phone devices. Devices must be registered to an Amazon account and have an active, strong Wi-Fi connection. Mayday can be used in select countries and provides support in English and German.
An Amazon Tech advisor can draw on a device’s screen, walk users through how to do something, or simply resolve the issue for the user. The advisors cannot see the user and only views what is on the user’s screen.
