Here we are, seven years since the first Google Home speaker hit store shelves in 2016, and the virtual assistant space really isn’t much better. Sure, you can spot improvements if you look close enough — Continued Conversation was, in some ways, a game changer — but nowhere near where I hoped we’d be in this amount of time. Sure, the hardware has improved, with better speakers and bigger displays, but it’s tough not to feel like Google’s efforts are in a standstill.
Even my favorite smart display, the Nest Hub Max, is starting to feel sluggish now that it’s over four years old. And with the news that Google is severely limiting one of its best selling points by neutering Google Meet support and eliminating Zoom altogether, the future I once hoped for may be over before it ever arrives.
At one point in time, the list of best Google Assistant smart displays was a lengthy one with options for multiple brands, each offering something different. Companies like JBL, Lenovo, Bose, and more offered features its company was well-known for with the addition of access to Google’s robust digital assistant. With Google killing off support for third-party smart displays back in April of this year, that list has dwindled significantly; the newest option on that list is now over two years old.
I’m not saying that a smart speaker or smart display is something that should get updated annually, but surely, we should be seeing more improvements here than we have so far. However, instead of providing long-term support, improved experiences, and new features, Google is removing them, limiting how Meet works on their displays and ditching Zoom entirely. And that’s not even factoring in the slow degrading of Google Assistant in its usefulness. From disappearing support for notes and lists for third-party apps to the death of Assistant games, it feels like our displays are becoming more limited with each passing day.
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What seems to be an impending demise of smart displays — even as Amazon works to revitalize Alexa alongside a new Echo Show 8 — is pointing to what many fans of consumer tech and Google know but tend to forget: you can’t expect much or grow attached to anything Google provides. There is literally a site dedicated to keeping tabs on everything that Google kills off.
Just seems part of the same MO - throw stuff against the wall, see what sticks, bin it if it doesn’t and move on.
So I’ve heard a lot of it is down to the company structure and culture. Career advancement in Google/Alphabet is achieved through launching new products, but not so much by managing and growing existing ones in the longer term.
That would definitely explain a lot.