They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But Alphabet’s (GOOGL) latest developments may have Apple (AAPL) looking over their shoulder. 👀

Last week Google hosted their annual California innovation conference, I/O (aka Input/Output), where they announced their groundbreaking new products and features. Google was quick to tease new versions of their Pixel phone, including the snazzy Pixel 7 phone. But after pouring US$31.6 billion into research and development last year, Google’s other big reveals might have left revellers with a touch of déjà vu. Noise cancelling Pixel Buds earphones. A Pixel tablet. And, yes! A Pixel watch. Where have we seen those before? 🤷‍♂️

When you’re as successful as Apple (the second largest company in the world) there will always be companies chomping at your heels. 🍎 But based on Google’s new product lines, could we soon be in for an Apple 2.0? The tech juggernauts already dominate when it comes to where we download our apps, and they’re both now working on driverless electric cars. But Google’s new Pixel products have stepped up the competition by taking a bite straight out of the Apple playbook. 

Apple makes billions of dollars from their connected ecosystem of phones, tablets and watches, something Google seems keen to replicate as they try to diversify away from their ad-based revenue. But while Apple started by building hard products first, linking iPhones and iPads together through storage and creating a ‘walled garden’, Alphabet started with software. Google’s Gmail, the Android operating system and Chrome browser were embedded into our lives years before any Pixel hardware even got off the ground. Still, with Apple’s market capitalisation sitting more than US$800 billion above Alphabet’s, the Google-Pixel system has some serious chomp, chomp, chomping to do to play catchup. 🐢🐇