• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 16, 2016

Complicating the respective strategies of Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, Google just unveiled a super-simple 1-to-1 video-calling app dubbed Duo.

To use the app, users only need a phone number. That’s right -- no separate account is required, and the app doesn’t care what mobile operating system you’re using.

“You shouldn’t have to worry … if your friend is using the same type of device as you are,” Justin Uberti, principal software engineer at Google, notes in a new blog post.

And, after following a few steps, users can initiate their first video call with one single tap.

The mobile video-calling market remains wide open, because Google’s rivals have done a poor job of getting users onboard.

Presently, “Nearly half of [consumers] never make video calls on mobile,” according to Uberti. That number is based on a Google YouGov survey of about 1,000 U.S. adults, which was conducted last month.

Critically, Google designed Duo so that it works well even on slower networks.

“Call quality adjusts to changing network conditions to keep you connected,” Uberti says. “When bandwidth is limited, Duo will gracefully reduce the resolution to keep the call going smoothly.”

When users are on the move, meanwhile, Duo switches between Wi-Fi and cellular data automatically without dropping calls.

Also, to give call recipients a better idea of what they’re getting themselves into, Uberti and his team created Knock Knock, a feature that lets users see live video of callers before they answer.

With an emphasis on privacy and security, Duo calls are also end-to-end encrypted.

Of course, whether a critical mass of consumers are willing to download another app to their phones -- and whether they think Duo is as simple as Google says it is -- remains to be seen.