Alphabet - Google introduces a new phone

Google announced a new phone yesterday, it is the "Pixel". From the website, Made by Google, the intro is titled Meet Pixel, Phone by Google. There was also the release of a home connected device, a speaker that is powered with the "Google assist" software. It is activated by saying, "OK Google". Remember that to activate Siri, you simply say, "Hey Siri". When I do this at my desk, it seems to activate Michael's (next to me) phone. Good voice projection I guess. And then some streaming devices, "coming soon", premium TV to Audio streaming. The connected home is here, it will take a while to integrate it all and my sense is that we will all bumble through until we learn. The internet of things is being unveiled in front of our eyes here, with the Amazon Echo, Apple HomeKit and Google Home automation devices. And Virtual Reality headsets, don't forget those.

Google in their blog section on the website have an overview themselves - Introducing Pixel, our new phone made by Google. I really like the fact that they are going to be "in" the hardware and software, to close the entire ecosystem (whilst still keeping it completely open, if you know what I mean). Google reckons that this is the best smartphone camera ever. There are two sizes, to compete with the iPhone (I guess), the starting price (for those of you who live in the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia) is 649 Dollars. This is NOT a cheap phone.

Google assist was unveiled by Sundar Pichai (the Siri of Google) - A personal Google, just for you, there are some lovely little factoids in that piece. In 18 years of Google, we have reached some level of artificial intelligence. The age of internet and robots will collide at some level. The company is pretty sure that the next decade is going to be amazing, I have to agree with them. All the products look good and user adoption will be determined in the coming week, when the company no doubt will let us know of the demand for their products. We continue to recommend the parent company, Alphabet, as a compelling investment for a "long, long" time.

What do other people think of the handset, the VR, the home integrator and "assist software"? I think that it is worth noting that Google is going for premium first and foremost, they want people who spend all day and every day with their handsets to spend a little more, to do a whole lot more, see the CNET take - Pixel and Pixel XL unveiled: Google's post-Nexus phones come out swinging (hands-on). USB charger of course and the headphone jack for those lovers of "wired" headsets. I drew the same conclusion last evening in a tweet when someone suggested that this is an "iPhone killer" (seen many), I think that this is competing head-on with Samsung and their top end phones. I think that bringing people into an ecosystem, where the user and the company controls all the hardware and software (the ecosystem) is very important. Choices are a good thing, democracy and capitalism enable such things.