2022: The year that was for Google – Times of India

It’s that time of the year when people look back and reminisce on how the year actually went. The first common thought is: “did this year go by this quick? Wasn’t it just like June right now?” 2020 and 2021 were tough years as the world first struggled to come to terms with the pandemic and then grappled with it. 2022 brought its own set of challenges — especially for tech companies. The macroeconomic situation around the world hasn’t been great, which has had quite an impact on tech giants. In this series of year-ender articles, we will take a look at the highs and the lows, the hits and the misses of four big tech giants — Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta. What better company to start with than the one which is ubiquitous and omnipresent in people’s lives — Google.

The year of the Pixel ecosystem

For a company that doesn’t ‘get’ hardware — or at least that’s what the perception is — Google made quite a splash with its devices. There were three Pixel phones — the ‘affordable’ Pixel 6a, the vanilla Pixel 7 and the camera champ, Pixel 7 Pro. Of the three, it was the Pixel 7 Pro that garnered the headlines. We reviewed the phone and found it to be arguably the best Android smartphone of 2022. It sets a high benchmark for camera performance and is quite a looker. Google also introduced its first-ever smartwatch — the Pixel watch. Though the Pixel watch didn’t make its way to the Indian shores, it is an attempt to create an ecosystem of Pixel devices. Throw in the Pixel Buds Pro and the upcoming Pixel Tab — we saw a glimpse of it — and Google could be creating a proper ecosystem of devices.

A slew of new features across apps and services

In terms of rolling out new features and services, Google had a rather busy year. Android 13 was the headline act as it brought several new features to billions of users across the world. However, Android 13’s adoption rate still remains a sore point. Year after year, the latest Android update doesn’t arrive on a vast number of phones. That’s not on Google though as every brand follows its own cycle.
Gmail got an all-new design with Meet and Chat tabs now integrated within Gmail. The new design was — as expected — liked by many and not so appreciated by some. In Google Search, Multisearch arrived in India which makes it easier for users to look for something by combining images and text.
Google Chrome also got several new features, among which support for Passkeys was the most important one. Google along with others remain committed to spelling the end of passwords to a great extent.

Legal hassles and troubles for Google

It wasn’t a good year when it comes to legal issues for Google. It agreed a $391.5 settlement with 40 US state attorney generals for misuse of its location tracking feature. Then Russia and France also imposed heavy fines for not removing prohibitive content and user tracking respectively.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) also slapped a Rs 1,337 crore penalty for misusing Android dominance to make it mandatory for OEMs to pre-install its entire Google Mobile Suite (GMS) on their phones and place them prominently. Google has appealed the decision and said “Android has greatly benefitted Indian users, developers, and OEMs, and powered India’s digital transformation.”
Google got involved in bitter lawsuits with Epic, Tinder, and Spotify as well in 2022.

Google ‘graveyard’ got new entries

The biggest service that Google killed in 2022 was Stadia — its gaming platform. Launched in 2019, Stadia was expected to give Google a foothold in the lucrative mobile gaming business. Alas, that never happened and Stadia was officially killed. Google said that it will refund all the purchases that were made by users on Stadia. Other notable mentions for the Google ‘graveyard’ in 2022 include Google Hangouts app (merged with Google Chat), Android Auto for phones, YouTube app and Google Duplex for Web.
Overall, Google had a steady year in terms of new products and services. It has been a difficult year financially for almost every tech company. However, Alphabet — Google’s parent company — revenue ending September 30, 2022 was close to $283 billion — an almost 18% increase year-over-year. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has warned that tough times lie ahead but unlike many other companies, Google hasn’t officially laid off employees but has warned that strict reviews will follow, which could lead to job cuts.