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November 5, 2013 10:00 am GMT

Google Launches Helpouts, Paid Video Chats With Experts To Address Whatever Is Bothering You Right Now

2013-11-04_16h45_05Helpouts, Google’s fusion of Google+ Hangouts, Google Wallet, and its identity tools is now live. A ‘Helpout’ is a Hangout-like video chat, but instead of speaking with a friend, you are connected to a purported expert in whatever it is that you need help with.The tagline that Google has come up with for Helpouts is “real help from real people in real time.” Imagine a video chat session that you are paying for, that lasts for as little as a minute or two. You have an issue, say, what is this lump on my hand, or, how do I pull off a particular makeup trick, and have a quick chat with a person who cansee what your problem is. And think broadly, That’s the edge that Google thinks Helpouts has over every other content variety and service that helps you solve the situation you find yourself in.Today at its San Francisco offices, Google gave the media a look at the product, and proffered some hands-on time with its interface. The assembled tech press watched someone attempt to correct a drywall hole, apply lipstick in a particular way, and zest a lemon. If you need a deep dive into the mechanics of Helpouts, TechCrunchhelped break the story that Helpouts existed earlier this year. In this post, I want to dig into the economics of the offering, and its potential to succeed as a product. Platform Google is fond of calling Helpouts a platform and telling you that its team is separate from the Hangouts group. So, while the services share the core video experience, they should be thought of as distinct. Helpouts uses your Google+ identity, Wallets payment features, and Hangout’s video technology to service its marketplace of providers. To seed Helpouts, Google has assembled a collection of just a little more than a thousand brands, Sephora for instance, and individuals so that people can dig in from day one. Helpouts will need far more providers — diversity of offering here is key, naturally.Google has to demonstrate that its offering is better than what currently exists and that it is worth paying for.It must expand its database of on-demand information providers so that it can take nearly any request – if Helpouts doesn’t manage that, it will be niche, and therefore far too hit-and-miss to be compelling. Google is working on an API for Helpouts, though it remains unclear to what

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