Making Events Easy: How Google could outdo Apple Invites

This week, Apple launched a new app called Apple Invites, which smartly uses iCloud to send out digital event invitations. It’s a good idea, but I believe Google could do it even better with tools like Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google Photos.

Digital invitations have become quite popular because they are quick and easy compared to sending out paper cards. Apple Invites isn’t doing anything completely new, but it does make the process smoother by linking with other Apple services. For example, you can add event photos to a shared iCloud album, collaborate on an Apple Music playlist, and use Apple Maps for navigation to the event.

The app works well, including for those on Android phones, which is quite impressive for an Apple product.

However, I keep thinking about how Google could have beaten Apple to this idea. Google Calendar is already a favorite for scheduling among many users. If Google had an event invitation system built into Calendar, organizing in-person events would be much simpler. Add Gmail for easy communication, and integration with YouTube Music for shared playlists, and it would be even more useful. Google Photos could facilitate beautiful shared albums without the limitations Apple has for non-iCloud users.

Here’s the thing: Apple Invites is easy to use if you’re already in the Apple world, but Google has the advantage because almost everyone has a Google account, even many iPhone users. This means Google could make event planning accessible to a broader audience.

It would be fantastic if Google added these invitation features to Google Calendar. However, with Google’s current emphasis on developing AI technologies, it seems unlikely that they’ll prioritize this, even if Apple Invites becomes very popular.