I was sad to have missed the Google I/O conference this week. There was so much to miss too. Even by the standards of Google, there were a huge number of announcements and unveilings.
Some details about Android 2.2 (ridiculously codenamed Froyo) were revealed and demonstrated. Including the ability to tether an Android phone to your computer to provide 3G network access and even better, produce a personal WiFi access point so your phone stay in your pocket. Neither of these features is new but they will now be standard and not require a degree in geek to switch on. It will be interesting to see if the mobile network providers get the ability to disable these features as they currently charge extra for internet tethering services.
The demo of the compass support in Google maps also caused a few ripples on the Twitter back channels as the map turned as the device turns. Strange how things we take for granted on old technology (like paper maps) cause such excitement.
Away from the mobile arena, the Google Buzz API was released and while Buzz seems to have been the poor relation to all of the other platforms and products, it is the most exciting for me, as it is made from the most exciting parts. Its adoption of OAuth, Activity Streams, PubSubHubbub and Salmon will make it a very useful platform for integrating into other systems. We’ll be looking at the API documents very closely to see how this can be of use to our clients’ systems.
Then there is Google TV which is Google’s venture to get into our televisions. There is no doubt that the television is going to be one of the biggest media battlegrounds of the next few years. The power of combining the vast array of content, information and services available on the Internet, with the immediacy and familiarity of the television is enormous. It has the potential to do more for digital inclusion and breaking down the digital divide than all of the free Internet training courses you can shake a stick at.
The prize for Google, of course, is access to more of our attention time and so more opportunity to sell that attention to advertisers. But this is not like the greenfield of the internet, there are already big boys playing here. The fight between Google and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will certainly hot up as Google starts to threaten Murdoch’s TV advertising revenue directly.
It will also be interesting to see how the Project Canvas work, to create open standards for internet connected TVs, lead by the BBC, will be affected by the Google TV.
As well as these announcements, Google also announced the opening of Google Wave to any user, rather than just those invited. Simply go to wave.google.com to get a Wave account. Wave will also be available to Corporate Google Apps account holders, along with many of their other applications.
It is still astounding that so many product announcements and releases can come from the conference of a single company.
