Coming to Android – a Cloud

by Dave Michels

Last week Google previewed the upcoming release of Android – M. There’s lot’s of interesting and worthwhile features, but most of the sizzle isn’t in Android but Google’s complementary services.

It is really becoming clear that Google’s interest isn’t in selling phones. Google wants users (and user data) and the phone is the vehicle to get it. The most exciting new feature last week was probably Google’s new photo service – unlimited storage and powerful machine learning to assist with sorting and management. There’s plenty of coverage on the apps – but I found this post: Google’s Quest For Complete Control Of Your Digital Life by Charlie Warzol most interesting.

Let us know everything about you. We promise it’ll be worth your while.

This information and privacy tradeoff is nothing new, but today’s keynote showed perhaps the fullest realization of the power of buying into an ecosystem whole hog. And in contrast to Apple’s beautifully designed — and, in many cases, prohibitively expensive — hardware, Google touted and demonstrated Android’s ability to provide an immersive digital ecosystem at staggering scale.
It deserves a full read as I think too many or making this trade without really understanding it.