Google will try to make Android more consistent across multiple devices, SVP for Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai said this morning at the AllThingsD conference.
"The scale and scope of Android is breathtaking," Pichai said, and is broader than he expected. The Galaxy S 4 mini was announced today, for example, but he said Google's challenge is to figure out the best user experience and how to get that to users.
Asked by co-host Walt Mossberg how he can ensure a consistent user experience when the individual hardware makers are adding their own experiences on top of it, Pichai said Google is going to work with partners to make things more consistent while still allowing for innovation. He noted that both the HTC One he was carrying and the Galaxy S 4 will now be available on Google Play with just the pure Google or Nexus user experience.
Android was designed to let other people customize the user interface, he said, but he wants a level of commonality so that users can more comfortably move from device to device. You will still see a lot of Samsung software, a lot of HTC software, and carrier enhancements, he said, but there needs to be a broader level of commonality among Android devices. He agreed this is a new direction, but said Google is doing this in conjunction with its partners.
Asked if he is worried about Samsung's dominance of the market, he said he sees a symbiotic relationship between Google and Samsung, and that the two intend to stay very close partners, with a collaboration that was going to be deeper over the next 12 to 18 months. Other players are doing well too, he said, specifically in emerging markets. He said the ecosystem seems pretty vibrant to him.
Google is working hard on services such as Maps and getting these to work well at scale is the biggest opportunity on top of Android. He said he doesn'tt see it as a "zero-sum game."
"We are trying to think about where computing is going in the next five to 10 years and set up Android for that." He talked about scaling it "across the multi-screen world," including a much broader array of devices like phones, tablets, glasses, watches, and other things to come in a way that is consistent across multiple devices.
"People will get plenty of opportunities to innovate," Pichai said, mentioning an Indian phone that has multiple SIM cards. It's not just about Google services, but also to make sure users can find other services through the Play store.
On services, Mossberg noted that Google makes apps for iOS as well as Android. Pichai said Google's original mission was to be universally accessible, and he views users on iOS who want to use Google as Google users. He said Google Now is already out for iOS and the Google Play Music All Access subscription service will soon be released for iOS as well. Asked about moving services to BlackBerry or Windows Phone 8, Pichai said Google wants to reach as many people as possible, but it depends on the number of users. For services such as YouTube, he said, there is an HTML5 app that works, but once a platform gets a critical mass of users, the company will consider creating specific applications.
In five years, at D16, Pichai said he expects that computing will become pervasive and we will have wearable computers, home controls such as the Nest smart thermostat, software in cars such as in the Tesla, and a lot more displays everywhere. He also talked about sensors, including bio-sensors, noting an Android app that can start to detect radioactivity.
"We want to drive innovation forward in hardware," Pichai said. Though he was very excited about what Motorola was doing (LINK to yesterday's post), he said Google goes to great lengths to treat Motorola no differently than any other phone maker. Google views Motorola with a long-term view, just like its purchase of YouTube.
"We feel fortunate we have two ecosystems that are doing well," he said, referring to Android and Chrome, and they represent different viewpoints and Google feels comfortable having both around. "I do think there will be synergies and they could converge in interesting ways, but for now we're sticking with both."
Asked about why users should trust Google with so much personal information, he said Google has a huge responsibility when it runs cloud services to provide value to users, to provide transparency, and to give users control over their data. Users can easily move to other services, Pichai said, and "we can do what we want to do only when we do right by users." He discussed possibly creating a "guest mode" for Android.
When asked about connecting Siri with Google Maps and other ways of running Maps just with voice commands, Pichai, mentioned making conversational search work better and said there will be more on this in a few months.
A user wanted better ways to connect Google Drive to services such as Dropbox, and replied that in general, he likes the concept of interoperability and would like to see that happen, but that there is a lot of technical work ahead.