Google I/O Developers Conference cancelled amid coronavirus fears

Chennai: Following the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress, the Game Developers Conference and Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference, Google too has cancelled its developers conference Google I/O which was scheduled for March 12-14 in Mountain View, California.

The cancellation comes just days after Google scrapped its Cloud Next event in San Francisco and opted to stream it online instead.

Google has been emailing those who had registered to attend the event, informing them of the cancellation.

“Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event,” Google said.

Google I/O is the company’s biggest news event of the year, where the tech company typically introduces new changes to the Android operating system and Google-powered hardware, as well as releases updates of services like Google Maps.

The tech company has promised to refund the cost of the ticket by March 13.

Those who had registered for this year’s event will also be automatically granted the option of purchasing tickets for next year’s event without entering the draw of lots.