Quick notes from Google I/O 2021

Have always liked following tech launches and events, since they don't just appeal to the engineering analyst in me, but also excite me as an avid end-consumer of tech. Watched the Google IO 2021 last night and this edition did not disappoint at all. Some quick thoughts:

•  Natural Language - Of all the stuff they spoke about, LaMDA and MUM seem to be the most impactful given they can fundamentally evolve the experience Google offers around its core value prop of organizing the worlds information and making it universally accessible and useful. The depth of context that Google can now learn from search queries, and its ability to understand natural language and hold a conversation, are promising. They frankly seem uncontested in this space right now.

• Project Starline seems particularly revolutionary with holographic communication in the times of patchy Zoom/Teams call. Has steep hardware and network requirements (depth sensors, multiple cameras, spatial audio etc.), though as we have seen almost every single time in the past, HW and NW can get cheaper and better as tech becomes more and more commercialized. The possibilities seem immense.

• Security and Privacy - The focus on security and privacy is quite timely and seems all pervasive. As a mission, the trio of 'Secure by default, private by design and you’re in control' seems reassuring. Personally looking forward to better password managers. Apple however still seems to have a lead in consumer’s mindshare on security and privacy (their recent move to disable app tracking has been received well by people with ~80% users choosing to decline the permission to apps such as FB and instagram).
• Remote collaboration - Google seems to be rather late to the collaboration and remote work scene with Smart canvas and Meet (which gets inserted almost everywhere across their products)
• Android 12 - Not quite onboard with the UX changes being ushered into Android. The design overhaul with Material You is actually quite refreshing in isolation, but the radical (almost scary) ideological tweak is that each user can pick a personal colour palette/combination. This might work well for some, but I am afraid most will screw it up to some extent and as a population, android users will have a visually distasteful OS. TBH, I appreciate having a choice, but this provision takes the premise of offering choice a bit too far for its own good. As a stark contrast, iOS continues to provide polish and consistency in experience, even if at the cost of customizability.

• Smartwatch OS - The move to integrate Samsung’s Tizen and Google’s Wear OS gives both the companies a chance to be relevant in a market where Apple’s WatchOS has a nearly uncontested ~60% market share. Frankly, the move brings the two OSs out of the rather fragmented long tail and makes them a worthy joint competitor, in addition to bringing in immense benefits in app portability and developer mindshare. However, winning in this space will also need some consistency (or at least a firm guidance) on hardware choices as well. The rumored Pixel Watch seems like a good start point. Add to this mix their Fitbit portfolio and things become rather exciting. Watching this space closely.  

• Other stuff - The sprinkle of new features and functionalities on their products such as Photos, Maps and shopping, seem quite well thought through and many of them are a good testament to Google’s AI prowess. Personally looking forward to ‘Little patterns’ in Google photos and excited to see the phenomenally powerful TPUv4 and Quantum computing lab.