Just because Google’s hosting I/O , that doesn’t mean that a few little guys can’t do a bit of announcing on their own. Such is the case with Groupme, who stopped by doing their darnedest to upstage Disco and the host of other group messaging apps flooding app stores these days. The newest build — v2.1.7 — just hit the Android Market over the past few days, bringing with it the ability to share locations /photos and initiate conference calls within the group (amongst other niceties). For now, the service is limited to the US and Canada (though international expansion is “top priority”), and requires that any members have established phone numbers in case the data network fails anywhere in the chain. The good news, however, is that there is a data option, with SMS being used only as a fallback. There’s also some pretty fancy integration with Gigbeat, which is detailed in the video just after the break. Gallery: Groupme’s group messaging app demoed at Google I/O Continue reading Groupme’s group messaging app demoed at Google I/O, complete with data / location (video) Groupme’s group messaging app demoed at Google I/O, complete with data / location (video) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 11 May 2011 07:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink