Game, set and match: Google gives up trying to topple the iPad
There have been rumors for a while that Google is completely stopping its tablet development. Now the manufacturer has officially confirmed this. Work on two new Pixel tablets has been discontinued, but laptops and smartphones are not affected by this decision.
It had already become apparent that Google would not continue to work on tablets. There were rumors about this already a while ago, which were not at all surprising due to the not poor sales performance of the Pixel Slate. Now, the decision has actually been made, as Computer World first reported.
Google had been working on two new tablet models until the beginning of the week. However, the development of these has now been discontinued and the employees have been reallocated to other projects. Google also confirmed this to Computer World. Meanwhile, Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services at Google, has also announced on Twitter that Google's hardware team will focus on laptops.
Hey, it's true...Google's HARDWARE team will be solely focused on building laptops moving forward, but make no mistake, Android & Chrome OS teams are 100% committed for the long-run on working with our partners on tablets for all segments of the market (consumer, enterprise, edu)
— Rick Osterloh (@rosterloh) June 20, 2019
However, the Android and Chrome OS teams continue to work with partners on other tablets. This decision has no influence on the Pixel smartphones. These will be developed by an independent team that will continue to work on the phones.
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Pixelbooks are also not affected by this decision. They fall into the laptops category and are therefore actively being further developed. A Google spokesperson also told Computer World that a new laptop with Chrome OS from Google could come onto the market before the end of the year.
However, there are no details about the development work that has been discontinued. Apparently, the two Pixel tablets were smaller than the Pixel Slate. However, the work was probably not even so far advanced that there were names. What exactly Google had in the making, we will probably never know.
Will you mourn the Pixel tablets or do you prefer tablets from another manufacturer anyway? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Computerworld
Given their tablets were poorly designed I'm not sad to see them go. But given I hate Chrome OS, I am sad they didn't also give up on laptops and focus more on new android development.
I dont think that was Google's hardware goal to overthrow Apple. The Nexus line was to drive developers and development in the Android ecosystem. The Pixel line is more productivity oriented but that's still not what handhelds are to most of the user base, even in the Apple world.