Google has completely canceled its biggest conference of the year as California shelters in place because of the coronavirus

Google

• Google has completely canceled Google I/O, its annual developer conference, over coronavirus concerns, the company announced on Friday.
• Google made the decision to scrap this year's event entirely after it previously said it would explore holding it virtually instead of physically.
• Google usually makes major announcements about Android and other products during Google I/O.
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Google has completely canceled Google I/O, its annual developers conference, over health and safety concerns regarding the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the company announced via Twitter on Friday.

Previously, the company had said that it planned to hold a virtual conference in lieu of the physical event. Now, the search giant said it would be canceling the event completely after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered residents to stay home following a San Francisco Bay Area "shelter in place" order.

"Out of concern for the health and safety of our developers, employees, and local communities - and in line with the 'shelter in place' requirements by the local Bay Area government - we sadly will not be holding an I/O event in any capacity this year," the company tweeted.

Google also said it would be sharing ongoing Android updates through developer blogs and community forums.

Google I/O is the annual conference where the search giant typically makes new product announcements around its Android software for smartphones, Nest devices, new features coming to apps like Google Lens and Google Maps, and other products. It typically waits until the fall to launch its new flagship Pixel phones and other similar hardware.

The cancellation comes as other major tech firms are scrambling to hold events and product launches remotely. Facebook and Apple also canceled their respective developer conferences, and major conferences like Mobile World Congress, South by Southwest, and Collision have also been cancelled.

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A #GoogleIO update: Out of concern for the health and safety of our developers, employees, and local communities - and in line with "shelter in place" requirements by the local Bay Area government - we sadly will not be holding an I/O event in any capacity this year. (1/3)

- Google Developers (@googledevs) March 20, 2020

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