What Google Should Answer At This Year's Google I/O

Writteb By Patrick Moorhead Forbes Contributor

Every major technology company has an annual gathering of their ecosystem. Apple AAPL +0.24% has WWDC, Microsoft MSFT -0.82% has BUILD, Facebook FB -0.37% has F8 and Google GOOGL -0.32% has I/O. Next week, Google is holding I/O ’16 in Mountain View and I will be in attendance. Since last year’s I/O, many things have changed in the industry, which sets the backdrop for the event.

Since last Google I/O, on the device side, smartphone growth has stalled and tablets are in sharp decline. China has significantly cooled off too, and Brazil and Venezuela are in economic crisis. Virtual reality, in what was supposed to be the savior of the 2015 holiday selling season never transpired as smartphone content was limited, and both HTC and Oculus missed their 2015 shipment dates. Facebook’s Oculus still hasn’t shipped yet. As for home automation, we have yet to see any new product categories from Google’s Nest aside from APIs and low level constructs. Microsoft has managed to completely surround Android with valuable apps, services and development tools like Office 365, Outlook, OneNote, Remote Desktop, Cortana, OneDrive, SharePoint, Xamarin and Visual Studio.

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Finally, we have bots, those luscious bots from Microsoft and Facebook.
With that as a backdrop, I think it would be helpful for Google to address a few specific things at this year’s I/O.  This is my wish-list and I doubt I will walk away with all these answers, but it is what I would like to see.

• Virtual Reality: Today, there’s Android smartphone and PC VR. Will we see something in-between like a native Android VR HMD? What is Google doing to make VR content easier to create and consume? How much is project Tango integrated for a mixed reality experience?
• Machine Learning: Microsoft at BUILD showed what they’re doing with AI and it’s big. Google has TensorFlow but what about easy to use and consume APIs for web apps, device apps, and services?
• Messaging as a Service: ”Conversations as a platform” or “messaging as a service” was highlighted by both Microsoft at BUILD and Facebook at F8? Microsoft brought a very sophisticated bot platform that exports to nearly every major messaging services with bots including Slack, Skype, Messenger and I expect WhatsApp. Facebook was really focused on its own service’s bots as you would expect. What’s Google’s play? Any experience that takes away from the web or Android is a risk to Google so they will need to beat them or join them. Google weak in chat platforms, too, with Hangouts. Is this where RCS, Jibe, and GBoard fit into the picture?
• Chrome and Android “unity”: With phones, smartphones, and PCs slowing, what will they do with two distinct operating systems? Chrome is for desktops and is big in the education market, but that’s about it. Chrome is horrible on the desktop. Developer resources are split. Is this where they join Chrome and Android?
• Android: The smartphone market is slowing. Any answers here with Android? More details on N? Android O?
• Google on Windows 10: Microsoft Windows 10 is here to stay as a top 3 platform and are headed to 500M users by the end of the year Microsoft apps and services span iOS, Android and Windows. Google is on iOS and Android, but what about Windows 10? I think it’s time to see some of Google’s core apps on Windows 10 like GMail, Google Drive and Hangouts as native Windows 10 UWP apps. I’m not holding my breath on this one as it would give instant credibility to Windows 10 from an arch rival.
• China: Most Google services like Search and Mail are blocked, and Play is single digit per cent market share while Tencent Myapp dominates. What’s Google’s China play?
• Home automation: Google and Nest appear to be at a complete standstill. Where is Nest and new category products like lighting, security, garage door openers, sprinkler controllers, etc? Where is the lower cost thermostat to increase penetration? Where is Google’s home automation framework Weave?
• Android TV with live TV: The industry has been on a live TV snipe hunt for years. Is this finally where we see Android TV with live TV? Google could score some points on Apple buy showing up with some compelling live TV bundles.

I’ll let you know what I hear back or you can tune in yourself to the keynote. If you are going, I hope to see you there!

Source: Tech News