Google started their 3 day developer conference with a 3 hour keynote speech. What was clear was the message. Services and apps where the focus more than hardware. Hardware is the smartphone industry has sort of plateaued with very little change between models. But with apps and services you can dictate a user experience to one that keeps them using your platform over a competitors.

Yesterday and the day before I wrote about the announcements so if you want to read the headlines scroll back a few pages. But in a nutshell from maps, search, music, development of apps for different tablet sizes, notifications, game services, smart photo editing, messaging and so much more all got major improvements. And Google is using its Chrome web browser to offer these services too, so your platform of choice won’t hinder you from using these great products. And the the crazy Samsung S4 Developer edition with stock android was announced. Still can’t fathom that one out.

Whilst I wasn’t jumping off my seat in excitement, I was nonetheless very impressed. I really think Google is taking the lead in the mobile space and will have a cross platform Eco system to take on the might of Apple’s matured Eco system. Apple needs to respond next month. This is going to be a great year for software and services!