Google unveils Android Pay, Android M, IoT OS, unlimited photo/video storage
- Google (GOOG - unchanged) has kicked off its I/O conference with a flurry of product launches. Among them: Android Pay, a replacement for the Google Wallet Android app that handles both in-app and in-store/NFC payments. Google states 7 out of 10 Android devices currently support Pay, and that 700K U.S. stores are able to accept it. (live blog)
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Android M, expected later this year, will be a nuts-and-bolts OS update rather than a major overhaul. Product chief Sundar Pichai: "We've really focused on polish and quality, we've literally solved thousands of bugs." New features include Android Pay, better app permission controls, deep linking between apps, and custom Chrome tabs within apps.
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Brillo, the Android-based IoT OS rumored to be in the pipeline, will launch in Q3. The OS is promised to be very resource-efficient, and will be accompanied by a communications software stack called Weave that lets Brillo devices easily interact with each other (as well as phones).
- Google's cloud photo service (previously buried within Google+) will now be provided through a standalone Photos app; it uses machine learning to organize pictures by people, places, and things. Notably, Google will be providing free, unlimited, cloud storage for photos and videos; photo resolution is limited to 16MP, and video to 1080p.
- As Apple reportedly preps a Google Now rival, Google is launching Now on Tap, a feature that brings up Now cards related to whatever is on a user's screen by long-pressing the home button. Now will also handle voice searches that take into account the content a user is viewing.
- Some shared stats: 1) Android, Chrome, YouTube, and search each have over 1B monthly active users; Gmail is at 900M. 2) 17M Chromecast HDMI sticks have been sold. 3) Over 4K apps have been developed for Android Wear. 4) 35 auto brands support Android Auto.
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Update: A couple more announcements: 1) Google Maps is being updated to support offline search and navigation. 2) The Cardboard virtual reality platform (aimed at developers for now) has been extended to iOS.