Google’s New Gadgets Come With a Big Helping of A.I.
Google’s New Gadgets Come With a Big Helping of A.I.
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI OCT. 4, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s unveiling of new smartphones,
smart speakers and other gadgets had all the makings of a typical technology
product launch: a fawning crowd of superfans, skeptical journalists, slick
product videos, not-so-subtle jabs at the competition, and overly romanticized
descriptions of design choices, colors and materials.
But one nagging question lingered for Google, which makes
nearly all of its money from selling online advertisements: Is it finally
serious about making devices?
On Wednesday, Google did its best to demonstrate its
commitment. It introduced two new Pixel smartphones, Google Home speakers both
small and large, a laptop running the company’s Chrome software, a new virtual
reality headset and wireless headphones.
But Google’s pitch for why its hardware is different had
little to do with the hardware itself.
Unlike the way an Apple event is conducted — usually
chock-full of talk about chip speeds and screen resolutions — Google didn’t
spend much time on product specifications. Instead, its focus was on artificial
intelligence. Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, spent the first 10
minutes explaining how artificial intelligence was helping Google Maps and its
translations.
Mr. Pichai said that as an “A.I. first” company, this is
a “unique moment in time” for Google to combine hardware, software and
artificial intelligence. “It’s radically rethinking how computing should work,”
he said.
Google executives said it has been getting harder to find
new hardware breakthroughs like bigger and better screens, but they believe
significant improvements will come from artificial intelligence software that
is developing at a faster clip than physical components.
Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president of
hardware, compared the company’s strategy for building devices to search and
email. Google was not the first search engine and Gmail was hardly the first
free web-based email provider — but both services reimagined what those
products should do.
Last year, the company started its “Made By Google” line
of hardware products, headlined by the Pixel smartphone. The handset received
positive reviews, but it did not threaten the premium smartphone dominance of
Apple or Samsung.
On Wednesday, Google demonstrated how every hardware
product had received an A.I. makeover. The Pixel smartphones come with an
image-recognition app called Lens that can help users find information just by
pointing a camera at a movie poster or an ad. The new “smart speaker” uses
artificial intelligence to adjust its sound for the layout of a room. And new
wireless headphones allow for instant translation of different languages.
The question of Google’s commitment to hardware is a
testament to the challenges of competing against devices made by Apple, Amazon
and Samsung. Most other companies have found it hard to turn a profit in that
product fight, and a flop can follow a company around for years — both in money
and reputation lost.
It is also a recognition of Google’s history of fits and
starts with devices. The company once acquired Motorola, only to sell it a few
years later to Lenovo. It bought Nest and Dropcam, but the introduction of new
products from those home device companies seemed to stagnate after they joined
Google, now operating under the parent company, Alphabet.
Whether Google’s device push sticks over the long haul
remains to be seen, but its checkbook for hardware is still open.
Last month, Google said it had agreed to acquire a team
of 2,000 engineers from the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC for $1.1 billion. The
hardware-focused personnel came from an HTC research and development division
that was already working with Google to create the Pixel phones. Google said
the acquisition will allow it to move faster in its efforts to develop new
features for smartphones.
The deal is expected to close, pending regulatory
approval, early next year.
A version of this article appears in print on October 5,
2017, on Page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Google Unveils
Phones and Other Gadgets With a Spotlight on A.I.
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