Google Launched An IoT OS That Integrates With Some Of Its Biggest Services Including Google Assistant

Google announced Android Things which is its own IoT (internet of things) platform that lets you build devices that can connect to the internet using Android APIs. Google is actually combining Brillo (its operating system for Android based IoT devices) with other tools like Android SDK, Google Cloud, Android Studio and eve Google Play services.

Google is also going to add support for Weave (its IoT communications service that allows devices connect to Google services including Google Assistant) which companies like Samsung already use and Google now says companies like LiFX, WeMO, Honeywell have all said they will back the platform.

With this, Google is going to be a big player in the IoT space even as it has led the mobile OS space greatly. Android‘s share of the mobile OS space now stands at 88 percent as Android based device sales keep rising especially in emerging economies.

While it’s not clear whether Android Things will dominate the IoT space the way Android did in the smartphone space because of the availability of other options available to developers, the integration of this into other Google services including Assistant will definitely be of interest to developers. Right now, it’s hard to think of a company that’s doing better than Google in the AI space and this could play a major role in the way we use IoT devices in future.

For those who currently use Brillo, Google will work with them to ensure smooth migration to the Android Things.

That said, IoT security is a hot topic right now seeing as malwares such as Mirai have been used on several occasions to attack internet services through DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack.