Google I/O

Not to be confused with Io, I0, or I/O.
Google I/O
Date(s) May–June (1–3 days)
Frequency Annual
Venue
Location(s)
Founded May 28, 2008
Most recent May 10, 2023
Attendance 5000 (est.)
Organized by Google
Website io.google

Google I/O, or simply I/O, is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. The name "I/O" is taken from the number googol, with the "I" representing the "1" in googol and the "O" representing the first "0" in the number. The format of the event is similar to Google Developer Day.

History

Year Date Venue Ref(s)
2008 May 28–29 Moscone Center
2009 May 27–28
2010 May 19–20
2011 May 10–11
2012 June 27–29
2013 May 15–17
2014 June 25–26
2015 May 28–29
2016 May 17–19 Shoreline Amphitheatre
2017 May 17–19
2018 May 8–10
2019 May 7–9
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 May 18–20 Online
2022 May 11–12 Shoreline Amphitheatre
2023 May 10

Google I/O 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Google I/O 2021 took place online. Google I/O returned to its in-person format in 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic; Google I/O 2022 took place as an in-person conference for the first time since the one held in 2019.

Evolution

2008

Google I/O 2008

Major topics included:

Speakers included Marissa Mayer, David Glazer, Steve Horowitz, Alex Martelli, Steve Souders, Dion Almaer, Mark Lucovsky, Guido van Rossum, Jeff Dean, Chris DiBona, Josh Bloch, Raffaello D'Andrea, Geoff Stearns.

2009

Major topics included:

Speakers included Aaron Boodman, Adam Feldman, Adam Schuck, Alex Moffat, Alon Levi, Andrew Bowers, Andrew Hatton, Anil Sabharwal, Arne Roomann-Kurrik, Ben Collins-Sussman, Jacob Lee, Jeff Fisher, Jeff Ragusa, Jeff Sharkey, Jeffrey Sambells, Jerome Mouton and Jesse Kocher.

Attendees were given a HTC Magic.

2010

Major topics included:

Speakers included Aaron Koblin, Adam Graff, Adam Nash, Adam Powell, Adam Schuck, Alan Green, Albert Cheng, Albert Wenger, Alex Russell, Alfred Fuller, Amit Agarwal, Amit Kulkarni, Amit Manjhi, Amit Weinstein, Andres Sandholm, Angus Logan, Arne Roomann-Kurrik, Bart Locanthi, Ben Appleton, Ben Chang, Ben Collins-Sussman.

Attendees were given a HTC Evo 4G at the event. Prior to the event, U.S. attendees received a Motorola Droid while non-U.S. attendees received a Nexus One.

2011

Major topics included:

Attendees were given a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Series 5 Chromebook and Verizon MiFi.

The after party was hosted by Jane's Addiction.

2012

The I/O conference was extended from the usual two-day schedule to three days. There was no keynote on the final day. Attendees were given a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, Nexus Q and Chromebox. The after party was hosted by Paul Oakenfold and Train.

Major topics included:

2013

Google I/O 2013 was held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. The amount of time for all the $900 (or $300 for school students and faculty) tickets to sell out was 49 minutes, even when registrants had both Google+ and Wallet accounts by requirement. A fleet of remote-controlled blimps streamed a bird's-eye view of the event. Attendees were given a Chromebook Pixel. The after party was hosted by Billy Idol and Steve Aoki.

Major topics included:

Puzzle

On the conference website, users could enter a binary code by clicking or typing in 0 and 1. The inputs would then be displayed at the bottom of the page. If the code matched one of the binary codes listed below, users were redirected to a page with a unique theme for each code.

BinaryCode Page theme
IIIOOIII cat
OOIOIOIO outer space
IOOOOOOI Pong
IOOIOOOO bacon
IIOIOOII Simon
OIOIOOII 8-bit
IOOOIOOO synthesizer
IIOIIOII song
OIIIIIII ASCII
OIIIOIOI bowling
OIOOOIOI rocket
OOIIIOOI hamburger
IOIOIOIO metaball
IOOIOIIO donut

2014

Major topics included:

Attendees were given a LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live, Google Cardboard, and a Moto 360 was shipped to attendees after the event.

2015

Sundar Pichai at Google I/O 2015

Major topics included:

  • Android Marshmallow
    • App permission controls
    • Native fingerprint recognition
    • "Deep sleep", a mode which puts the device to sleep for power saving
    • USB-C support
    • Deep-linking app support, which leads verified app URLs to the app in the Play store.
  • Android Pay
  • Android Wear
    • "Always on" extension to apps
    • Wrist gestures
  • Chrome
  • Custom tabs Gmail
    • Inbox availability for everyone
  • Maps
    • Offline mode
  • Nanodegree, an Android course on Udacity
  • Now
    • Reduction in voice error
    • Context improvements
  • Photos
  • Play
    • "About" tabs for developer pages
    • A/B listings
    • Store listing experiments
    • "Family Star" badge
  • Project Brillo, a new operating system for the Android-based Internet of things.
    • Project Weave, a common language for IoT devices to communicate.

Attendees were given an Nexus 9 tablet and an improved version of Google Cardboard

2016

Sundar Pichai moved Google I/O to Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA for the first time. Attendees were given sunglasses and sunscreen due to the amphitheater's outside conditions; however, many attendees were sunburned so the talks were relatively short. There was no hardware giveaway.

Major topics included:

  • Allo
  • Android
    • Daydream, Android support for VR was shown with Daydream.
    • Instant Apps, a code path that downloads a part of an app instead of accessing a web app, which allows links to load apps on-demand without installation. This was shown with the B&H app.
    • Nougat
    • Wear 2.0
    • The inaugural Google Play Awards were presented to the year's best apps and games in ten categories.
  • Assistant
  • Duo
  • Firebase, a mobile application platform, now adds storage, reporting and analytics.
  • Home
  • Play integration with ChromeOS

2017

Sundar Pichai at the Google I/O 2017 Keynote
Google I/O 2017 Android Fireside Chat

Major topics included:

Attendees were given a Google Home and $700 in Google Cloud Platform Credits. The afterparty was hosted by LCD Soundsystem.

2018

Major topics included:

  • Android Pie
  • Digital Wellbeing initiatives
  • Material Design 2.0
  • Changes in Gmail
  • Android Wear 3.0
  • An Impressive Google Assistant
  • AR/VR efforts
  • Updated Google Home

Attendees were given an Android Things kit and a Google Home Mini. The after party was hosted by Justice with Phantogram opening.

2019

Major topics included:

The after party was hosted by The Flaming Lips. There was no hardware giveaway.

2020

The 2020 event was originally scheduled for May 12–14. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event was considered for alternative formats and eventually canceled.

2021

Major topics included:

A "pre-show" was held before the keynote, featuring a performance from Tune-Yards and Google Arts & Culture's "Blob Opera" experiment.

2022

Major topics included:

2023

The 2023 conference took place on May 10, 2023. It was being presented before a restricted in-person audience, while being widely accessible to all online. Attendees could join the livestreamed keynote sessions, and explore an array of technical content and learning materials, accessible on demand.

Major topics include: