Today (05-15-13) Google held its sixth annual Google I/O conference in the sunny state of California. The conference’s main audience was its 6,000 software developers where the company showcased many new products, services and software.
In the days leading up to the event Google fans had high expectations as rumored features had spread across the web. Google first started the conference with its new Google Play Music, All Access which combines a user’s music library with a large array of playlists that Google has licensed for itself. Google’s engineering director had this to say about the new service: “It allows you to explore millions of songs across devices, effortlessly. Radio without rules.” The catch to such a premium service you may ask? It will cost you $9.99 per month and the new Google Music launches today for US users.
Staying on Google’s new services, Google Play will now be available for education this coming fall. Teachers/Schools will now be able to download or purchase specifically designed applications for K-12 students. The engineering director also mentioned that Google Play for Education was “built from the ground up to meet content needs of educators.” Just as if you wanted to download a game instead of in app in the current Play Store, categories will be introduced to effortlessly browse subject matter and grade level.
Very rarely do we see sneak previews from a Google I/O event. However, during the conference a new version of Google Maps had been leaked online. Images of the new Google Maps appeared briefly but have currently been taken down. Found in the Maps update are incorporated data from your Google account to highlight areas or locations that may be important to you. Satellite viewing and Street View options have become almost realistic images. If the leaked images tend to become true then there will be no doubt on which company has the best mapping software on the planet.
The only hardware shown at the event was new Chrome-powered OS laptops. Google has been trying to gain some market share from the OS giant Microsoft but has barely scratched the surface of doing so. Also unveiled was a Samsung Galaxy S4 with stock Android. Currently one of the most top rated phones it will now be available on June 26th for $649 from Google, and of course will come with the latest version of Android.
To sum up the rest of the conference Google spoke about upcoming changes to Google+ to bring in even more users, as well as new changes coming to their products like Chrome and Google Earth. One thing that struck me as a surprise was the lack of Android news. Google had very little to say on the new Android Key Lime Pie update. Overall, it just goes to show you how a small search engine can rise into one of the world’s largest companies.