- The highly anticipated Google I/O 2020 event now stands canceled as the company explained in a series of tweets.
- This comes as Google previously talked about hosting the event in a limited capacity.
- Industry rival Apple, on the other hand, is expected to go on with its WWDC 2020 event in June using an “online-only” format.
In a series of tweets posted earlier today, Google has mentioned that it will not host the Google I/O event in any capacity this year, thus marking its complete cancelation. This comes as a surprise since the company mentioned that the event would go on, but without a physical in-person event amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.
However, the event was expected to go on in an online-only format with participation probably limited to software developers. However, given the rapidly escalating situation over the aforementioned outbreak, it seems like Google has made the right call.
One of the tweets from the Google Developers account said the following – “Out of concern for the health and safety of our developers, employees, and local communities — and in line with “shelter in place” requirements by the local Bay Area government — we sadly will not be holding an I/O event in any capacity this year.“
Google is also said to have sent an email to the expected attendees of the event, detailing the reasons for the cancelation. Given how close the event is, one would say this was along expected grounds.
This comes after a string of companies were closed down with companies like Google asking all its employees in North America as well as Europe to work from home. Several events currently stand canceled, but Apple is bracing for an online-only WWDC 2020 event in June, although things may change over the course of the coming months.
Google added – “Right now, the most important thing all of us can do is focus our attention on helping people with the new challenges we all face. Please know that we remain committed to finding other ways to share platform updates with you through our developer blogs and community forums.”
Perhaps Google will decide to showcase features completely online without anyone being present? With Apple’s WWDC 2020 online event as the precedent, there’s no reason why Google can’t do this.
Source: @GoogleDevs
Via: Droid Life