One of our most beloved companies is kicking off its annual developers conference today and as you may have expected, the internet is buzzing with what we can expect from this annual gathering of the Google geeks. In its third edition, Google I/O is expected to focus on the most popular technologies that Google offers today , including its Android mobile OS and Chrome OS. Many rumors have been circulating the internet about the imminent launch of Google’s own music locker service. Here’s a look at what we can expect from one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to innovation.
Android Ice Cream/ Ice Cream Sandwich.
Android is booming, no question about it! Fragmentation is a real issue that most app developers are struggling with, combine that with the low number of paid apps on the market and it should sound the death knell for a platform. But consumer adoption is forcing developers to consider that supporting Android in their development efforts may become imperative. The breakneck speed at which Google develops upgrades to its Android OS has reached its destination for this half of the year with developers longing for a taste of the new version on Android that promises to bring some sort of unity to the fragmented Gingerbread2.3 and Honeycomb3.0 landscape of Android. Ice Cream/ Ice Cream Sandwich is expected to unify the OS scenario for Android, of course there will be some additional functionality and APIs that will be unveiled too.
Chrome OS
Chrome OS may be getting ready for an official launch soon, with reports that Acer and Samsung plan to launch Chrome OS powered notebooks later this year. Chrome OS is a linux based OS that uses the cloud services in browser based interface. This effectively turns your notebook into a dummy terminal. Chrome OS may make an official public appearance at the end of the conference with Samsung netbooks. Exciting technology for sure!
Google Music Beta
News blogs are reporting confirmed comments from a Google spokeswoman that the company will unveil the much awaited cloud music streaming service. After talks with record companies stalled, Google will pull an Amazon and go ahead without any licensing agreements with the four major record companies in the world. Google will reportedly open the service for a beta test internally and make it available to users in the U.S. shortly thereafter. The service will allow users to upload their music to their cloud locker and later stream it to any device on their Android phones running version 2.2( froyo ) with adobe flash support. Amazon launched their cloud music streaming service earlier this year that allows users to upload their music to a personal music drive and stream it to multiple devices. Apple is rumored to be readying its own cloud music storage and streaming service and not surprisingly is calling it iCloud.
Google TV
It is believed that Google will show a glimpse of its new version of internet enabled TV, Google TV 2.0 with software and hardware upgrades. The software will be Android Honeycomb like and will most likely bring Android apps to Google TV.
This will be Google’s first developer conference since the replacement of Eric Schmidt by Larry Page as CEO. Larry Page stated that his goal was to run Google with the pace and with the souls and passion of a startup. Developers attending the Google I/O will surely have a blast at this conference. We’ll keep you updated with the daily happenings.
Watch this space for our entire coverage of Google I/O.
