When It Comes To The Future, Google Doesn't Need To Be First

Today, Google convened 7,000 developers and journalists at a popular outdoor concert venue in Silicon Valley and gave a two-hour state of the union on the future of arguably the most powerful and ambitious company in the world. In front of a packed crowd and tens of thousands watching via live stream, the company brought its best and brightest minds on stage and unveiled to the world that Google is playing catch-up with a slew of products and services we've already seen before from other companies. There's Google Assistant, a conversational AI chat and search bot (Facebook's M/Microsoft's bot projects/Apple's Siri/Viv/literally everyone has a bot these days); Google Home, a voice-powered home entertainment and task hub (Amazon's dreadfully popular and beloved Echo); Allo and Duo, two mobile messaging and mobile video apps (Facebook's Messenger goliath with nearly 1 billion users); and Daydream, Google's Android-powered virtual reality platform, headset, and multimedia content hub (Oculus). But make no mistake, Google, led by its fresh-faced, immaculately tailored blue jacket–wearing CEO, Sundar Pichai, didn't tiptoe around the stage today. Quite the opposite, Google's 2016 I/O keynote address was confident, enthusiastic, and more than just a little impressive.