The upcoming Pixel Watch and Pixel Tablet look like they’re taking Google in the right direction, but it should take these steps to succeed.
It’s no secret that Google is trying to reduce its dependence on ads by pushing ever further into hardware, including Pixel phones and earbuds, and its Google Nest smart home gear. At the same time, though, there are a couple of areas that the company has struggled to get any traction in: smartwatches and tablets. There hasn’t been a first-party Wear OS device, and Google’s most popular tablet was probably the decade-old Nexus 7. The Pixel Watch and Pixel Tablet, revealed at I/O 2022, seem to suggest that Google is headed in the right direction, at least when coupled with general improvements to Android and Wear OS. But there’s a difference between good odds and going all the way, so here are some things we think Google needs in order to succeed in both the tablet and watch markets. What Google needs for a successful tablet
Some of Google’s positive steps revealed at I/O 2022 include new tablet-focused Android features, like better multitasking and the ability to copy from your phone and paste to a tablet. It’s also planning to optimize more of its own apps, and encourage third parties to do the same, among them Canva, TikTok, and Zoom. That’s a software commitment that’s long been missing. Heck, simply announcing the Pixel Tablet (a placeholder name) a year out displays a deeper dedication to tablets, and should spur additional developers to improve support. Our opinion: With Android 12L, Google must lead by example
The elephant in the room, of course, is how Google’s product will stack up against the Apple iPad, which is far and away the world’s most popular tablet. To capture a meaningful share of the market, Google needs to go toe-to-toe with Apple on features, and maybe even surpass it. Google would instantly grab attention, for example, if it could offer more desktop-level apps and a better file system. iPad owners regularly gripe that, with a few exceptions, the power on their devices is going to waste, making them feel more like media consumption machines than laptop replacements. That’s despite iPad Pros having laptop-level processors and support for mice and trackpads.
