San Francisco: Google Inc’s Android software is coming to cars, televisions and watches this year, as the Internet search giant races against Apple Inc and other tech companies to extend its business into a rapidly broadening field of Internet-connected devices.
Google’s free Android software runs on more than three out of every four smartphones sold globally: a valuable entry point for consumers to access its money-making online services such as Web search and maps.
At its annual developers’ conference on Thursday, the company said the first cars running Android Auto software for navigation, music and messaging will hit showrooms later this year. More than 40 auto companies had signed onto its software development alliance, but Google did not say which ones will actually build android into their cars in 2014.
Samsung and LG smartwatches running android wear, the version of android tailored for wearable devices, go on sale soon. The executives demonstrated how android TV, reviving Google’s foray into streaming video, aims to give viewers an easy interface through which to search for and display content.
TV version of Android comes four years after Google’s first effort to enter the living room, via Google TV, failed to catch on with consumers.
“It's a land grab,” said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with investment bank B. Riley & Co.
