Quip adds Chat Rooms to take on Slack

Mobile-first productivity app Quip is entering the chat age. While you could always carry a discussion within the confines of a document, Quip has updated their service to roll in Chat Rooms, which takes the conversation outside of your documents or folders. It's an interesting move for Quip, which likely sees a bit of an opportunity as other services like Slack snipe users with their enterprise-first approach to chat. The update is rolling out soon to Quip's Android and iOS apps.

Speaking to Venture Beat, Quip CEO Bret Taylor suggests Slack was their inspiration for Chat Rooms, saying "we view this launch largely as an expansion of the communication features already in the product, but companies like Slack and Atlassian have certainly influenced how we think about how modern teams communicate. The broader trend we see is teams at work moving away from email towards new forms of communication like Quip, which is driving the growth of our and many other companies."

Though you can now get chatty with colleagues, Quip's features are still meant for work. Recently mentioned documents will populate on the right hand side of the screen, while rooms and contacts make a home on the left. It's pretty straightforward, and meant to tie you into Quip a bit more.

Chat Rooms may not get you away from Slack or your other enterprise chat (which offer more features than Chat Rooms — you can even link Quip to Slack), but if your team usus Quip already, it'll at least keep you conversing with teammates.

Via: Venture Beat