Google Cancels I/O Developer Conference Over Coronavirus Concerns
The annual event is billed as Google’s biggest of the year.
Google officially announced the cancellation of its 2020 I/O conference, citing concerns regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. In a statement to The Verge, the tech giant noted that “Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event at Shoreline Amphitheatre.”
I/O is billed as Google’s biggest event of the year, with the company using the annual developer conference to share important news focused on the Android OS, Google hardware, and updates on Google services. 2019’s installment featured major announcements including Google Maps‘ AR walking directions, Google Lens, Android Q Beta 3, and the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. This year’s conference was scheduled for May 12 to May 14 in Mountain View, California, but the company is now looking at “other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with and continue to build our developer community.”
Google is just one of the many companies that have either postponed or fully canceled big events due to the coronavirus. The related world of gaming recently saw Sony’s decision to skip PAX East, along with Kojima Productions and Microsoft skipping the Game Developers Conference. The art, fashion, and sports industries have also taken heavy hits from COVID-19, with the cancellation of Seoul Fashion Week, Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo FW20, Baselworld, Art Basel Hong Kong, the one-day closure of the Louvre, and the possible cancellation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Elsewhere in tech, Apple is set to pay up to $500 million USD to settle the iPhone performance throttling issue.
