The coronavirus (COVID-19), has once again caused the cancellation of another event important for the developer communities and is that after the Mobile World Congress, the Facebook F8 conference and the Game Developper Conference. Now the new event that has been in need of being canceled is the 2020 edition of the Google I / O developer conference.
And is that the search giant and Android creator explains that you must also adhere to health guidelines from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and WHO for any physical encounters that could spread the epidemic.
Since in addition the organizers of all these events have decided to postpone them and wait for instructions from the WHO to be able to organize them again with the green light.
With that Google promises to find an alternative to this annual meeting which should gather nearly 5,000 people at the Shoreline Amphitheater in California:
"In the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to develop Google I / O to better connect with our developer community," the firm said in a statement, likely alluding to an online alternative.
All those who have reserved a seat for this 2020 edition will receive a refund until March 13 and will automatically have the possibility to obtain their tickets for Google I / O 2021.
And is that in this meeting, which should have taken place on May 12, 13 and 14, several surprises were expected to be revealed to the public.
In fact, it is also an opportunity for Google to reveal its new perspectives, especially regarding its products and services and the next updates that are being prepared.
We wait, for example, the launch of the new range of smartphones Google Pixel 4A and maybe also an XL. The developers probably expected to know a little more about Android 11, about Nearby Share in this case.
We certainly wonder what Google will offer again in terms of artificial intelligence. Similarly, Google will likely have something to say about the future of Stadia, and necessarily about Fuchsia.
In addition to this, Google also canceled its 'Global News Initiative' summit, to be held in April in California. Microsoft, on the other hand, canceled its 'IoT in Action' conference in Melbourne, Australia, to be held on March 9.
Besides these, the developers conference Facebook F8, The conference Cisco Live in Melbourne, the event World Tour from US cloud-based software company Salesforce's Sydney Tour have also been canceled. Meanwhile, Oracle OpenWorld Asia has been postponed.
Cancellation of Google I / O 2020 can be a serious blow to the company which was also forced, just a few days ago, to abandon its Cloud Next '20 event that should have taken place in April in San Francisco Finally, Cloud Next '20 will take place as part of the 14th edition of Digital First in October, at Belgium.
The health problem is becoming one of the main concerns of Google, Well, last week, a Google employee tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) in Zurich, Switzerland. Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon had an employee in Seattle who also tested positive for coronavirus.
"The health and well-being of Google Cloud customers, partners, employees, and the entire community is our top priority." It is recalled that new cases of coronavirus have been arrested outside of China, with more than 10.000 cases identified outside the city of Wuhan. Almost all sectors of activity are affected, directly or indirectly, by the health directives that must be observed in the fight against this virus.
Although Google I / O is a couple of months away, the company felt the need not to take unnecessary risks as the coronavirus outbreak is still spreading.
Therefore, they have already announced to the attendees that the conference will be canceled and the tickets purchased will be refunded at the end of the month.
Source: https://events.google.com