This year’s Google I / O show was filled with hardware messages, which is unusual, given that it’s usually about software and services. The most exciting of these was the news that Google plans to return to the Android tablet market next year and that it is also launching its first smartwatch – the Pixel Watch – later in 2022.
Google has given several different reasons for the change of heart. But the most interesting of these was a comment from Google’s vice president of product management, Samir Samat, who spoke about the benefits a tablet device can have for the Pixel ecosystem as a whole. “I think consumer expectations have also changed over time,” Samat said. “The phone is certainly extremely important, but it is also very clear that there are other forms of devices that are complementary and also crucial for the consumer who decides in which ecosystem to buy and in which ecosystem to live. [in]”
“There are other form factors of the device that are complementary and also crucial for the consumer who decides which ecosystem to buy.”
In other words, creating a Pixel tablet (and a Pixel Watch) is not important just because Google wants customers to buy these specific devices. It is also important whether Google wants them to buy in the Pixel ecosystem as a whole. The Pixel phones themselves will not cease to be important, but Google wants people to know that once they buy a Google smartphone, there are a range of accessories such as smart watches, headphones and tablets that are designed to fit perfectly with it. And once they buy the perfect Pixel accessory, there’s a good chance they’ll stick to the smartphone brand for their next upgrade.
This is a similar approach to the “garden with walls” that Apple uses (often aggressively) to become a $ 2 trillion company. iPhones can transmit many common tasks to the Mac that can be used to manage iPads that work best with AirPods. Apple Fitness workouts can be monitored on an Apple Watch and streamed to your Apple TV. iMessage requires you and all your friends to use iPhone. You understand the idea.
Apple believes so strongly in its ecosystem that it will sometimes give priority to its fenced garden over the quality of its individual products. HomePod is an example: designed only for iPhone, it would objectively be more useful and would probably sell more if it allowed you to stream via Bluetooth, not just Apple’s own AirPlay standard. But, as analyst Benedict Evans noted at the time, HomePod’s goal was probably never to sell in huge quantities, but simply to offer all iPhone owners who buy it another reason to stick with Apple for the next your phone purchase.
Bottom of the Apple HomePod Photo by James Barreham / The Verge
I don’t think Google would ever plan to build the same types of walls around their garden. The company’s core advertising business relies on a scale that surpasses even a huge company like Apple, and this open approach has allowed Android to control approximately 75 percent of the global smartphone market. Google has been working for years to make Android phones work better with Windows, and Wear OS is designed to be compatible with iOS. The launch of a Google smartwatch and tablet will not change that.
Google’s approach is likely to be more subtle, similar to the one Apple uses with its AirPods. Wear OS is already at its best when paired with an Android phone. And Google’s software is often designed to be cross-compatible, such as how ChromeOS offers support for launching Android apps. But after years of leaving other companies’ hardware, Google’s focus seems to be shifting to a combined hardware and software approach. The Pixel Watch will almost certainly work on Android devices (iPhone support is less clear), but I would be very surprised if it doesn’t work best with Pixel phones.
But now it seems to be finding the limits of this approach, not least because it opposes the ecosystem ambitions of some other companies. I’m talking here about Samsung, the largest manufacturer of Android tablets and since last year the most famous manufacturer of smart watches Wear OS. But even though they use Google’s operating systems, Samsung’s devices have always directed their users to Samsung’s own ecosystem.
“Galaxy Watch 4 forces you to enter the Samsung ecosystem”
Take last year’s Galaxy Watch 4, which saw that Samsung was finally using Wear OS on one of its smartwatches, rather than its own Tizen operating system. But while it seemed to encompass Google’s ecosystem, in practice, the watch’s loyalty has always been that of Samsung. It used Samsung Pay, not Google Pay, Bixby, not Google Assistant, and was full of Samsung apps like Calendar, Calculator, and Contacts, not Google equivalents. It can sync settings from Samsung phones and uses Samsung’s system to automatically switch Galaxy headphones.
“If you’re a Samsung user, the Galaxy Watch 4 is a great smartwatch. If you haven’t, the Galaxy Watch 4 is forcing you into the Samsung ecosystem, ”said my former colleague Dieter Bon in his review.
It’s the same with tablets. When my colleague Dan Seifert reviewed the Tab S8 earlier this year, he discovered a number of handy features that really only mattered to users with other Samsung devices. Galaxy Buds will automatically switch between the tablet and the Samsung phone, and the tablet can also turn on the mobile hotspot feature of the phone. “After years of not seeing a great reason to buy an Android tablet, I have to admit that Samsung has presented a compelling performance this time around – provided you’re already in the Samsung Android ecosystem,” he wrote.
Samsung’s watch, Google’s Wear OS, Samsung’s ecosystem. Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge
Samsung’s approach clearly shows where the incentives for consumer technology companies are today. Of course, they could design their products to integrate seamlessly with all of Google’s hardware, applications, and services. Or, if you’re the world’s largest smartphone maker, you can try using some of this installation base to your advantage, encouraging your existing customers to take a smartwatch or tablet to complement their phone. And who would think of switching to Google Pixel or OnePlus after being equipped with a full set of Samsung technologies?
Since the beginning of its Pixel range, Google has tried to pair limited hardware focus with extensive software support. But ecosystems are important, and in 2022, if you don’t control both your hardware and software, you’ll allow another company to do better – and maybe even park your platform right on top of yours.
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