The mobile-centric mindset may be fading. Google announced something for everyone yesterday at its 10th annual I/O developer conference. There were more details of a new version of Android; new messaging and video-calling apps; a built-in new VR platform for Android; and a good-looking Amazon-Echo-like smart speaker called Google Home.
There was even a cool new research project that will let users run portions of apps from the web without installing them first.
But the biggest theme stressed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and his lieutenants, over and over again throughout the two-hour keynote, was that Google is doubling down on artificial intelligence as the next great phase of computing. And they believe Google can do it better than anyone else.
While mobile devices are still immensely important to Google, I believe this year’s I/O marked a turning point from a Google which sees search and mobile as its north stars to a new Google which aims to win with artificial intelligence ov...
