Area 120

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]

Area 120
Named after100% of time on 20% Projects
Key people
Bradley Horowitz, Gabor Cselle
Parent organization
Google
Websitearea120.google.com

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

The 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

The 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
  1. McCracken, Harry (December 3, 2018). "An exclusive look inside Google's in-house incubator Area 120". Fast Company. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  2. "Google Unveils Advr, An Experimental Area 120 Project for Advertising in VR". Customer Experience Magazine. June 30, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Garun, Natt (February 22, 2018). "Google's Reply app is woefully bland — exactly the way it should be". The Verge. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Vincent, James (June 19, 2020). "Google quietly launches an AI-powered Pinterest rival named Keen". The Verge. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  10. Lardinois, Frederic (July 17, 2019). "Google's Area 120 launches Byteboard to improve technical interviews". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  11. 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.
  12. Heater, Brian (March 18, 2021). "Google Area 120's ThreadIt is bite-size video for team collaborations". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  13. 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.
  14. Perez, Sarah (July 16, 2020). "Google's latest R&D project is Shoploop, a mobile video shopping platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  15. 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.
  16. Poojary, Lax (October 22, 2019). "Touring Bird lands with Google to plan your perfect trip". The Keyword. Google. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  17. 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.
  18. Perez, Sarah (June 28, 2017). "Google unveils Advr, an experimental Area 120 project for advertising in VR". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  19. Perez, Sarah (November 16, 2017). "Google's chatbot analytics platform Chatbase launches to public". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  20. Ha, Anthony (October 16, 2018). "Google-incubated AdLingo uses chatbot integration to create conversational ads". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  21. 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.
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