Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, is kicking off with a keynote on Wednesday, June 27, at 9:30 a.m. PT. The search giant's product portfolio is always broad and impressive, and this year is likely no different. Expect a county fair full of goodies, with something for everyone.
The Google Nexus Tablet
First of all, it's worth noting that unlike Microsoft with its newly-unveiled Surface, Google is not making its own-brand tablet. Instead, the search giant will possibly be "baptizing" an Asus tablet, which is more thoughtful towards the company's OEM partners than Microsoft's move to keep its partners in the dark and plunge into hardware itself.
Nvidia head Jen-Hsun Huang showed off this tablet at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), so it's no longer a mystery that it is a 7-inch quad-core Tegra 3-based Asus tablet. At the time, Nvidia said the tablet would come with a roughly $249 price tag, but most current rumors indicate that Google will cut that price to $200 in order to better compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook tablet.
The biggest problem with current Android tablets is that apps look bad on 10-inch screens. The Nexus Tablet, however, addresses this issue because it is a 7-inch device, and apps with UIs designed for 4- to 4.5-inch screens look fairly decent on 7-inch displays. With this problem fixed, Google will be able to make about 400,000 apps available for this Nexus Tablet.
Chrome OS, Android Jelly Bean
Google I/O's first session is called "What's New in Android?" Of course, Android Jelly Bean is what's new. Jelly Bean, a.k.a. Android 4.1 according to reports, was accidentally touted a few days ago, when the unlocked Galaxy Nexus smartphone appeared in the Google Play store as "the first phone with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean."
Considering that Google only managed to get less than 10 percent of existing Android devices onto Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was a major upgrade, Jelly Bean will likely not be a radical update. Most likely, Jelly Bean will deal with Google's Chrome operating system into the Android fold. Chrome has proved a market failure on Chromebook laptops and Chromebox desktops, and the Google I/O lineup shows no indications in Chrome OS development. Jelly Bean may, however, add a non-beta version of Google's Chrome browser and Assistant voice-recognition software, which rivals Apple's Siri and Samsung's S Voice in providing smart searches from voice commands.
Google Play
Another Google I/O session touts "new developments coming soon from Google Play." This may mean more HD movies, a better music store, and hopefully a more efficient way to filter and sort apps by device. Meanwhile, Android developers need more ways to see some profits from their apps, and Google needs to deal with the load of spam and bad apps in the marketplace.
Google Drive, Cloud
Google has garnished the I/O sessions menu with means for developers to see something out of Google Drive (the new Google docs, not a navigation program) and Cloud platform, both of which are potential moneymakers for the search giant. Google is expected to rival Amazon's popular EC2, enabling businesses to base ditch physical servers and infrastructure and instead base their apps on Google's platform.
Google Maps and iOS
"There [are] a lot of exciting things happening in the world of Maps at Google," reads the official I/O program. Earlier this month, on June 6, Google had a Maps event announcing offline mapping, improved 3-D "fly-by" maps, as well as expansions to its Street View service. Also, this week Google cut prices for businesses using the Google Maps application programming interface (API).
The big question, however, remains how Google will respond to Apple ditching Google Maps from iOS 6, replacing it with its own Maps service. That's one more reason to look forward to the upcoming Google I/O.
Google TV
Sony and Google just announced they will bring Google TV to the UK in July, and there is a Google TV track at the I/O conference as well. While so far this has been an epic failure, Google hasn't given up and wants to reboot Google TV. This may mean a new interface and some impressive content partners, but nothing is certain just yet.
Other Potential Announcements
Google may come up with new means to improve its Google Wallet partnerships, as it has faced poor adoption from banks and wireless carriers so far. Also, various rumors indicate the search giant may boast a new Google search interface for its core. Perhaps Google will also offer some more details on its Project Glass? Lastly, this year's Google I/O will unfold without CEO Larry Page, as some health issues prevent him from attending (nothing serious, according to reports).
