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Speculation that Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google will take the wraps off a new virtual reality platform, taking on Facebook ( FB ), HTC and other rivals, is heating up ahead of its developers conference next week. Google is also expected to disclose more wrinkles for Android N , the next major update of the mobile operating system, due for release this year. And it might have something to say about Android apps coming to the Chrome OS or about combining the two operating systems . While Nest Labs, acquired by Google in 2014, seems to be struggling, some Web pundits say Google could provide an answer to Amazon.com ’s ( AMZN ) “Echo” home hub. Google and Amazon also seem to be on a collision course in online video , but YouTube has not grabbed the spotlight at the developer’s conference in the past few years. Whatever new products and technologies are coming to Google I/O, slated for May 18 to May 20, will likely be unveiled by CEO Sundar Pichai in his keynote address. Pichai’s keynote is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT on May 18. The Google I/O schedule is packed with virtual reality. There’s speculation Google might roll out its own VR headset, firing back at Facebook’s Oculus Rift. Another line of thinking has Google sticking with its low-cost Cardboard VR offering for now. Like Facebook, Google may also be charging into augmented reality. While virtual reality immerses a user in an imagined or replicated world (like videogames, for instance), augmented reality overlays digital imagery onto the real world. That’s where Google’s “Project Tango” comes in. One of the first products to come from that effort is a new smartphone built by Lenovo and due out this summer. Google’s annual developer’s conference arrives before Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) June developers meeting. It remains to be seen whether Apple or Google talks much about driverless cars . Click here for the Google I/O schedule . Scalper1 News
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