Four Developers React to Google IO 2019 Announcements - Voicebot Podcast Ep 96

The annual Google I/O developer conference had a lot of focus on Google Assistant as expected, but the company's direction is clearly shifting. In this week's Voicebot Podcast, four Google Action developers offer their initial reactions to the Google I/O keynotes and what they indicate about what Google sees as important and where the product line is headed over the next year.

Dominik Meissner of 169 Labs talks about Duplex on the web, the on-device Google Assistant, the rise of Google's focus on privacy, and the new Nest Home branding. The second interview is with Chad Gilhoi, one of the top independent Google Action developers. Chad zeroed in on the focus around Assistant integration with Android apps, the new Nest Home Hub Max, the need for better Chromecast integration, and the new Canvas multimodal development environment. He also commented on Google's lack of focus around monetization and developer success stories with revenue generation.

Jochen Emig of ONSEI also pointed out the focus around Android app integration with Google Assistant, the potential conflict between apps and Actions when using voice, the use of facial identification as a feature of the Nest Hub Max smart display, and the privacy emphasis. He also discussed a recent Google Action implementation ONSEI completed for a German retailer that includes product search and the ability to purchase over 35,000 SKUs by voice. Finally, Nick Schwab was intrigued by Google's entry into accessibility features that leverage voice technologies and applies them at a "human level." He also discussed Duplex for the Web, voice integration for search, and Android Automotive. He hopes over the next year to see the integration of Google's many development tools to create a more unified developer experience.