Google must be impressed with Amazon’s Echo Show, because it’s reportedly working on something quite similar. Citing two unnamed sources, TechCrunch claims that Google is developing a tabletop smart screen powered by Google Assistant, with support for video calls, YouTube, and Google Photos. It could also double as a smart home hub. Google originally planned to launch the device in mid-2018, but now there’s “intense internal pressure” to push it out by the end of this year, TechCrunch reports.
An Echo Show-like device from Google could be compelling simply by virtue of the company’s existing services. Imagine, for instance, a digital picture frame powered by Google Photos, with the ability to automatically display recent images of specific people. Such a device could also offer a steady stream of music videos from YouTube–which Google recently pulled from the Echo Show–or live cable channels from YouTube TV.
But by the time this device arrives–assuming it will in the first place–Amazon will already be a step ahead with its second-generation Echo speaker and new devices like the Echo Spot. Instead of just lifting ideas from Amazon, Google might want to think of some fresh ones that it can bring to market first.
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