Google Confirms New Pixel Laptops And Tablets At Cloud Next 2019

Google makes some undeniably compelling hardware in the form of its Pixelbook line of notebooks. Google wants business users to adopt the machines, but most business types need to run Windows for software compatibility; so last summer Google was seeking Windows 10 certification for the Pixelbook. Last month the Pixelbook successor, codenamed Atlas, was spied in a video. At Cloud Next 2019, Google hosted a session that focused on Google Hardware for Business, and in that session after touting the current generation Pixelbook and Pixel slate line; talk turned to what's next for Google hardware products.

Despite reports suggesting that Google was cutting back on its roadmap for future products, this Google session made it clear that the future computing hardware is incoming. The session was called "The Premium, Versatile, & Secure: Introducing Google Hardware for Business." In the session Lead Product Manager for the Pixelbook Group, Steve Jacobs, described a device for the future that aims to enable mobile workers to be productive on the go.

Jacobs offered no insight on hardware that the business device might employ. What he did say was that the device was aiming to help workers constantly on-the-go be more productive. Speaking specifically about Google, he said that 60% of its staff are working away from a desk, and 43% of them work at least part of the time remotely. He noted that the new device was aiming specifically at that sort of work paradigm.

Jacobs did say some things can be done "differently than the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate" with the business device that will give workers what they need in a cloud-first business era. Google had no specific details on when the business device might launch only stating there were no announcements "this week, but down the road."