Google I/O 2017: Android O announced, Google Assistant now on iPhones

Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off I/O 2017 by announcing that now 2 billion active smartphones were using the Android operations system. This means Android is the  biggest mobile operating system in the world.

Android has added over 400 million since September 2015. Apple had announced last year that in January that it had 1 billion active devices but hasn’t updated its number since.  

Google also  launched the Google Assistant for iPhones. The company’s Twitter handle wrote: “Starting today, we're bringing the #GoogleAssistant to iPhones. Whether at home or on the go, your Assistant is here to help. #io17”

Up till now, Google has kept the AI restricted to a select few devices, mostly the Pixel and Google Home but we didn’t expect to see it make its way to iOS. Bringing the Assistant to the world's second-largest mobile OS could also encourage more developers to integrate with the app's functionality.

Google also announced their new operating system which will be called Android O. It will have what Google has dubbed as Fluid Experiences which will include Picture-in-Picture, Notification Dots, Autofill with Google and Smart Text selection.

There will be new features for Google Photos as well including suggested sharing, shared libraries and photo books. The suggested feature will monitor one’s sharing habits.  

Google also announced Android Go, a budget Android platform for developing markets, a move which is similar to Google’s Android One strategy. This version is basically optimized to work on entry-level smartphones, consume less data and also support multiple regional languages.