Area 120
{{Short description|Incubator for Google products}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox organization
| logo = Google Area120 logo.webp
| logo_size = 200px
| parent_organization = Google
| key_people = Bradley Horowitz, Alex Gawley, Michelle Gonzalez, Balir Connolly, Gabor Cselle, Jackie Bernhelm, Elias Roman, Don Harrison
| named_after = 100% of time on 20% Projects
| website = {{url|https://area120.google.com}}
}}
Area 120 is Google's in-house incubator in which employees work on 20% Project product ideas. It has helped develop Gmail, AdSense, Google News, Call Center AI, and Aloud, YouTube's translation and dubbing tool.{{Cite news |last=McCracken |first=Harry |date=December 3, 2018 |title=An exclusive look inside Google's in-house incubator Area 120 |work=Fast Company |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90262791/an-exclusive-look-inside-googles-in-house-incubator-area-120 |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
The Area 120 division was created by Sundar Pichai in March 2016 and has since spawned over 200 projects.{{Cite news |date=June 30, 2017 |title=Google Unveils Advr, An Experimental Area 120 Project for Advertising in VR |work=Customer Experience Magazine |url=https://cxm.co.uk/google-unveils-advr-experimental-area-120-project-advertising-vr/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}} The objective for the Area 120 program is to incubate products that "graduate" back to Google.
In November 2021, the division was reorganized under a new division called Google Labs (unrelated to the defunct service of the same name).{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=November 11, 2021 |title=Google reorg moves AR, VR, Starline and Area 120 into new 'Labs' team |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/11/google-reorg-moves-ar-vr-starline-and-area-120-into-new-labs-team-reporting-directly-to-sundar-pichai/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111202202/https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/11/google-reorg-moves-ar-vr-starline-and-area-120-into-new-labs-team-reporting-directly-to-sundar-pichai/ |archive-date=November 11, 2021 |access-date=November 14, 2021 |website=TechCrunch}}
Area 120 was significantly reduced as part of Google's January 2023 layoffs.{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=January 21, 2023 |title=Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator, severely impacted by Alphabet mass layoffs |url=https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/20/area-120-googles-in-house-incubator-severely-impacted-by-alphabet-mass-layoffs/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123125337/https://techcrunch.com/web/20230123125337/https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/20/area-120-googles-in-house-incubator-severely-impacted-by-alphabet-mass-layoffs/ |archive-date=January 23, 2023 |access-date=January 23, 2023 |website=TechCrunch}}
Notable products
The program has funded more than 200 different ideas from Google employees. Notable product experiments which have emerged from Area 120 include:
- Tables – a collaborative database program comparable to Airtable. Graduated to Google Cloud.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=June 14, 2021 |title=Google's AirTable rival, Tables, graduates from beta test to become a Google Cloud product |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/14/googles-airtable-rival-tables-graduates-from-beta-test-to-become-a-google-cloud-product/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Reply – an Android app which allowed users to insert pre-defined replies (called "Smart Replies") into conversations on messaging apps on their phone.{{Cite web |last=Garun |first=Natt |date=February 22, 2018 |title=Google’s Reply app is woefully bland — exactly the way it should be |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/21/17036126/google-smart-reply-app-slack-facebook-messenger-whatsapp-hangouts-hands-on |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}
- Stack – an Android app that digitizes personal documents and extracts key information.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=March 30, 2021 |title=Google's Area 120 launches Stack, an app that digitizes personal docs and extracts key information |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/google-launches-stack-an-app-that-digitizes-personal-docs-and-extracts-key-information/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Gamesnacks – an HTML5 games platform for mobile websites.{{Cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Manish |last2=Kene-Okafor |first2=Tage |date=February 23, 2021 |title=Area 120 is beginning to use Google's massive reach to scale HTML5 GameSnacks platform |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/23/area-120-is-beginning-to-use-googles-massive-reach-to-scale-html5-gamesnacks-platform/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Keen – a competitor to Pinterest.{{Cite news |last=Vincent |first=James |date=June 19, 2020 |title=Google quietly launches an AI-powered Pinterest rival named Keen |work=The Verge |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/19/21296636/google-keen-pinterest-rival-ai-machine-learning |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Byteboard – a product that interviews software engineering candidates.{{Cite news |last=Lardinois |first=Frederic |date=July 17, 2019 |title=Google's Area 120 launches Byteboard to improve technical interviews |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/17/googles-area-120-launches-byteboard-to-improve-technical-interviews/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}} Spun out into a separate company in Oct 2021.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=Oct 5, 2021 |title=Technical interview platform Byteboard spins out of Google's Area 120, takes on new funding |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/05/technical-interview-platform-byteboard-spins-out-of-googles-area-120-takes-on-new-funding/ |access-date=Oct 5, 2021}}
- ThreadIt – a short-form video communication service.{{Cite news |last=Heater |first=Brian |date=March 18, 2021 |title=Google Area 120's ThreadIt is bite-size video for team collaborations |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/google-threadit-is-bite-size-video-for-team-collaborations/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Orion Wifi – a product letting businesses sell Wi-Fi capacity to wireless carriers.{{Cite news |last=Hetting |first=Claus |date=September 8, 2021 |title=Google's new 'Orion WiFi' empowers public venues to make money on Wi-Fi offload |work=WiFi Now |url=https://wifinowglobal.com/news-and-blog/googles-new-orion-wi-fi-pays-venues-for-wi-fi-offload/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Shoploop – a video shopping platform.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=July 16, 2020 |title=Google's latest R&D project is Shoploop, a mobile video shopping platform |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/16/googles-latest-rd-project-is-shoploop-a-mobile-video-shopping-platform/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Touring Bird – a search tool for experiences in major cities.{{Cite news |last=Plautz |first=Jessica |date=September 6, 2018 |title=Easily Find the Best Activities in Top Destinations With This New Tool Out of Google |work=Travel + Leisure |url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/google-touring-bird-activities-travel-app |access-date=September 18, 2021}} Graduated into Google Travel.{{Cite news |last=Poojary |first=Lax |date=October 22, 2019 |title=Touring Bird lands with Google to plan your perfect trip |work=The Keyword |publisher=Google |url=https://blog.google/technology/area-120/touring-bird-google/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Tangi – a short-form video site.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=January 29, 2020 |title=Google's Area 120 launches Tangi, a short-form video app focused on creativity and DIY |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/29/googles-area-120-launches-tangi-a-short-form-video-app-focused-on-creativity-and-diy/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- AdVR – a product providing advertisements in VR.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=June 28, 2017 |title=Google unveils Advr, an experimental Area 120 project for advertising in VR |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/28/google-unveils-advr-an-experimental-area-120-project-for-advertising-in-vr/ |access-date=September 18, 2021}}
- Chatbase – a conversational AI platform for building and analyzing customer service chatbots.{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=November 16, 2017 |title=Google’s chatbot analytics platform Chatbase launches to public |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/16/googles-chatbot-analytics-platform-chatbase-launches-to-public/ |access-date=February 9, 2023}} Graduated into Google Cloud.
- AdLingo – a marketing platform for bringing conversational assistants into display advertising.{{Cite news |last=Ha |first=Anthony |date=October 16, 2018 |title=Google-incubated AdLingo uses chatbot integration to create conversational ads |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/16/adlingo-launch/ |access-date=September 28, 2023}} Graduated into Google Workspace.
Byteboard spinout
The Byteboard project was spun out from Google into a separate company in Oct 2021,{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=Oct 5, 2021 |title=Technical interview platform Byteboard spins out of Google's Area 120, takes on new funding |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/05/technical-interview-platform-byteboard-spins-out-of-googles-area-120-takes-on-new-funding/ |access-date=Oct 5, 2021}} due to Byteboard using Google employees as human evaluators of candidates for Google competitors, which raised ethical issues.
References
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