Google wants to play an even bigger role in managing people's daily
lives, while also nudging them into an alternate reality, as the
Internet company responds to competitive threats posed by
Facebook,
Amazon and
Apple.
As part of an onslaught of upcoming products, Google
will implant a more personable form of artificial intelligence into an
Internet-connected device called Home, which echoes the Echo,
Amazon's trendy smart-home speaker.
Meanwhile, Google will
also delve deeper into the still-nascent realm of virtual reality with a
system called Daydream that's meant to challenge Facebook-owned
Oculus's early lead in fabricating artificial worlds.
Daydream is a
new virtual reality ecosystem that will be made available to all
comers, duplicating a strategy that worked well for Google after it fell
behind Apple following the iPhone's debut nearly a decade ago.
To
get the ball rolling, Google will sell a virtual-reality headset with a
wireless motion controller expected to carry the Nexus brand that the
company original created as a showcase for its Android operating system
for smartphones. Google didn't announce the price for the VR headset at
Wednesday's conference, nor did it specify when it will hit the market. A
similar headset, the Gear VR, made by Samsung and powered by Facebook's
Oculus subsidiary, costs $100.
Consumers will need a new
smartphone to power the headset. It is going to be tethered to the "N''
version of Android that Google plans to release later this year and
requires more processing power and sensors unavailable in any phone
already out.
The new headset marks a major upgrade from Google's
initial foray into VR in 2014, a cheap model made out of cardboard that
sells for as little as $15 and is even given away in sales promotions by
some companies.
"You could say Google has been the paper-based
leader in VR, but otherwise you could say Google is well behind Facebook
in VR," Blau said.
Google's new VR headset won't be as
sophisticated as the recently released Rift from Oculus, which costs
$600 and must be tethered to computers that can cost another $1,000 or
so. Oculus spent several years perfecting the Rift, which features
technology that looks so revolutionary that Facebook paid $2 billion to
buy the startup in 2014.
Google is now part of a larger holding company known as Alphabet Inc.
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Further reading:
Android,
Apps,
Daydream,
Daydream VR,
Gaming,
Google,
Google Home,
Google IO,
Google IO 2016,
Home,
Home Entertainment,
Mobiles,
Wearables,
Google IO 2016 Highlights,
Google IO 2016 Latest Updates
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