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, and Google Cardboard.[1]
 | |
| Named after | 100% of time on 20% Projects |
|---|---|
Key people | Bradley Horowitz, Gabor Cselle |
Parent organization | |
| Website | area120 |
The Area 120 division was created by Sundar Pichai in March 2016 and has since spawned over 50 projects.[1][2] The objective for the Area 120 program is to incubate products that "graduate" back to Google.[1]
In November 2021, the division was reorganized under a new division called Google Labs (unrelated to the defunct service of the same name).[3]
Area 120 was significantly reduced as part of Google's January 2023 layoffs.[4]
Notable products
editThe program has funded more than 50 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.[5]
- Reply – an Android app which allowed users to insert pre-defined replies (called "Smart Replies") into conversations on messaging apps on their phone.[6]
- Stack – an Android app that digitizes personal documents and extracts key information.[7]
- Gamesnacks – an HTML5 games platform for mobile websites.[8]
- Keen – a competitor to Pinterest.[9]
- Byteboard – a product that interviews software engineering candidates.[10] Spun out into a separate company in Oct 2021.[11]
- ThreadIt – a short-form video communication service.[12]
- Orion Wifi – a product letting businesses sell Wi-Fi capacity to wireless carriers.[13]
- Shoploop – a video shopping platform.[14]
- Touring Bird – a search tool for experiences in major cities.[15] Graduated into Google Travel.[16]
- Tangi – a short-form video site.[17]
- AdVR – a product providing advertisements in VR.[18]
- Chatbase – a conversational AI platform for building and analyzing customer service chatbots.[19] Graduated into Google Cloud.
- AdLingo – a marketing platform for bringing conversational assistants into display advertising.[20] Graduated into Google Workspace.
Byteboard spinout
editThe Byteboard project was spun out from Google into a separate company in Oct 2021,[21] due to Byteboard using Google employees as human evaluators of candidates for Google competitors, which raised ethical issues.
References
edit- ^ a b c McCracken, Harry (December 3, 2018). "An exclusive look inside Google's in-house incubator Area 120". Fast Company. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ "Google Unveils Advr, An Experimental Area 120 Project for Advertising in VR". Customer Experience Magazine. June 30, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (November 11, 2021). "Google reorg moves AR, VR, Starline and Area 120 into new 'Labs' team". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (January 21, 2023). "Area 120, Google's in-house incubator, severely impacted by Alphabet mass layoffs". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (June 14, 2021). "Google's AirTable rival, Tables, graduates from beta test to become a Google Cloud product". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Garun, Natt (February 22, 2018). "Google's Reply app is woefully bland — exactly the way it should be". The Verge. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (March 30, 2021). "Google's Area 120 launches Stack, an app that digitizes personal docs and extracts key information". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Singh, Manish; Kene-Okafor, Tage (February 23, 2021). "Area 120 is beginning to use Google's massive reach to scale HTML5 GameSnacks platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Vincent, James (June 19, 2020). "Google quietly launches an AI-powered Pinterest rival named Keen". The Verge. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Lardinois, Frederic (July 17, 2019). "Google's Area 120 launches Byteboard to improve technical interviews". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (October 5, 2021). "Technical interview platform Byteboard spins out of Google's Area 120, takes on new funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- ^ Heater, Brian (March 18, 2021). "Google Area 120's ThreadIt is bite-size video for team collaborations". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Hetting, Claus (September 8, 2021). "Google's new 'Orion WiFi' empowers public venues to make money on Wi-Fi offload". WiFi Now. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (July 16, 2020). "Google's latest R&D project is Shoploop, a mobile video shopping platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Plautz, Jessica (September 6, 2018). "Easily Find the Best Activities in Top Destinations With This New Tool Out of Google". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Poojary, Lax (October 22, 2019). "Touring Bird lands with Google to plan your perfect trip". The Keyword. Google. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (January 29, 2020). "Google's Area 120 launches Tangi, a short-form video app focused on creativity and DIY". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (June 28, 2017). "Google unveils Advr, an experimental Area 120 project for advertising in VR". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (November 16, 2017). "Google's chatbot analytics platform Chatbase launches to public". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (October 16, 2018). "Google-incubated AdLingo uses chatbot integration to create conversational ads". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (October 5, 2021). "Technical interview platform Byteboard spins out of Google's Area 120, takes on new funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 5, 2021.