Google refocuses efforts on Privacy and Security for all users

Google is changing the image of Android OS with the new Android Q OS which has major security and privacy features that could give Android a much anticipated edge against iOS. Apple has famously rallied around privacy and security through various security features. Google promised to give Android users greater control of their personal information and data. There will be tools within Android Q to Auto-Delete browsing history and location information, as well as Incognito Mode across various system apps.

Google is really rallying around privacy and security, the difference from Apple's approach is that Google is making these features more accessible even through lower cheaper smartphones running on older hardware. In an OP/ED in the New York Times, titled Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good,  Google CEO Sundar Pichai discussed the company-wide push towards safeguarding user privacy, or at least giving users the ability to decide and control what they do with their information. Google will employ various strategies to safeguard user's personal data.

In his column, Pichai sticks it to competitors offering security as a feature on higher-priced hardware and services. "For us, that means privacy cannot be a luxury good offered only to people who can afford to buy premium products and services. Privacy must be equally available to everyone in the world." Only a company like Google can with millions of Chrome and Android users, can fulfill this initiative and they seem earnest.

"For everyone” is a core philosophy for Google; it’s built into our mission to create products that are universally accessible and useful. That’s why Search works the same for everyone, whether you’re a professor at Harvard or a student in rural Indonesia. And it’s why we care just as much about the experience on low-cost phones in countries starting to come online as we do about the experience on high-end phones," Pichai wrote.