Google Pixelbook canceled :Google has canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and dissolved the team responsible for building it.
The device was far along in development and expected to debut next year, according to a person familiar with the matter, but the project was cut as part of recent cost-cutting measures inside of Google.
Members of the team have been transferred elsewhere inside the company.
Google Pixelbook
As recently as a few months ago, Google was planning to keep the Pixelbook going.
Ahead of its annual I/O developer conference, Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh told The Verge that “we are going to do Pixelbooks in the future.”
But he also acknowledged that the Chromebook market has changed since 2017 when the original (and best) Pixelbook launched.
“What’s nice about the category is that it has matured,” Osterloh said.
“You can expect them to last a long time.”
One way Google might be thinking about the ChromeOS market is that it simply doesn’t need Google the way it once did.
Google’s CEO, has been saying for months that he intends to slow down hiring and cut some projects across the company.
“In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes,” he wrote in a July memo.
“In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas.”
The Pixelbook team and the Pixelbook itself were casualties of that consolidation and redeployment.
“Google doesn’t share future product plans or personnel information.
however, we are committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and helpful for our users,” Laura Breen, a communications manager at Google, told The Verge.
“In regards to our people, in times where we do shift priorities we work to transition team members across devices and services.”
