On the night of March 20-21, Google officially canceled the Google I / O 2020 conference, which was supposed to start on May 12. The reason for this decision was the coronavirus pandemic, which is atrocious in Europe and North America. Despite the fact that a couple of weeks ago the company announced a change in the format of the event, which it promised to host in the form of an online broadcast, at some point the management of the search giant realized that in order to ensure the safety of the organizers, the conference should be abandoned altogether.
Google I / O has been officially canceled. Absolutely.
Out of concern for the life and health of our developers, employees and community members, and in line with local government requirements, we regret to announce that we will not be running Google I / O this year. The most important thing for us right now is to focus on helping people and letting them stay safe. Please keep in mind that we are still willing to share with you the details of future updates Android through our blogs and support forums, ”said Google.
When will Android 11 come out
Google has decided that even Google I / O will not be streamed online. It's a pity
The message quite clearly tells us that, despite the refusal to conduct Google I / O, the search giant does not intend to cancel or postpone the launch of the new version Android number 11, whose announcement was planned for the upcoming event, and the release – at September. Simply, instead of telling about the capabilities of the updated operating system and showing its images, Google will do it in the format of a press release, which will fill with excerpts from the script and presentation slides. That is, in fact, nothing will fundamentally change for you and me.
Obviously the Google Pixel 4a will be introduced in the same way. This is a representative of the mid-price segment of Google branded smartphones, which will receive features similar to the Pixel 4, but at the same time will acquire a less productive filling. As a result, such a craft will cost about 400 dollars and will definitely be more popular than the original model. Still, as practice shows, for most consumers the flagships have ceased to be of any interest, not to mention the presentation format, within which the new device was presented.
Why there won't be Google I / O
Android 11, by the way, can also exit with a delay
However, it is rather strange that Google decided not to even broadcast its event online. In the end, all manufacturers are now on an equal footing, but none of them seem to have done so. Even Apple promised that she would hold WWDC completely in stream format, without refusing either from the presentation of new versions of OS and products, or from conferences with the participation of developers. After all, in order to conduct Google I / O online, you don't even need to build the scenery as usual. It's easy enough to organize a live broadcast from the studio.
The only explanation I have for this is Google's intention to delay the launch of Android 11, and possibly the Pixel 4a, indefinitely. In the end, both the operating system and the smartphone are still in the testing and debugging stage, however, due to the spread of coronavirus infection and the massive transfer of employees to work at home, the company is clearly unable to complete the assigned tasks on time. After all, if you can still distribute smartphone prototypes to testers, then remotely coordinating development, design and other aspects of creating a new version Android is much more difficult.
Google itself, however, does not say anything like that, perhaps because it does not yet know what it will do. After all, until the estimated release date Android 11 there is still almost a whole six months, during which anything can happen. Therefore, the final decision on the timing of the update release, obviously, will be taken by Google after the fact. If they manage to prepare the operating system for launch, they will release it, and if they do not have time, they will postpone it, and no one can blame them for this. After all, the coronavirus is a bad joke.