On the eve of its annual I/O developer conference, Google Inc. Monday announced the general release of its long-awaited Android Things operating system for “internet of things” devices.

With the first stable release of the platform, IoT developers can now leverage Google’s machine learning capabilities, its Android partner ecosystem and the Google Assistant voice assistant.

Google said Android Things is an embedded operating system based on Android that’s designed to be run on low-powered IoT devices with limited memory. The OS supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy and the Weave protocol, providing several options for communication between devices. Existing Android devices including smartphones and tablets can automatically recognize Android Things devices, the company said.

Developers have been eagerly awaiting the launch of Android Things. The OS first arrived as a developer preview back in December 2016, and there have been eight release candidates over the last 18 months.

Besides serving as an operating system, Android Things also provides a bunch of software development kits that developers can use to build an array of IoT devices. Google is also partnering with several hardware manufacturers to offer more SDKs, and there’s a developer console available that can be used to manage devices and push out updates for both prototype and production devices.

It’s worth noting that Android Things is mostly aimed at developers of consumer IoT devices rather than enterprise systems, Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategies, told SiliconANGLE. “Google will likely do well in consumer markets, but I think Microsoft will dominate the commercial markets,” the analyst predicted.

The idea behind Android Things is to provide developers with certified hardware and a managed operating system, so they can focus solely on building their products. In line with this, Google is promising up to three years’ worth of stability fixes and security patches, with extended support available beyond this period.

Google surely has high hopes for Android Things given its popularity during the beta phase. During the last 18 months, more than 100,000 software development kits have been downloaded, while 10,000 developers provided feedback.

Those figures should serve as an encouragement to Google, which is desperate to carve out a piece of the IoT business for itself, said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research Inc.

“Google is dominating the smartphone platform with Android, but IoT devices are quickly emerging as the next platform behind the smartphone and so it’s key for it to be present there,” Mueller told SiliconANGLE. “So Android things is the star here, and its 1.0 release is an historic moment. Now it needs find [manufacturers] for it, but Google has good relationship with most players in the space already.”

Google is offering Android Things for free for noncommercial users, allowing them to manage up to 100 devices via the new console. For those who need more than 100 devices, Google is offering commercial subscriptions.

Google also announced support for two new System-on-Modules for Android Things that are based on the NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624 and MediaTek MT8516 hardware platforms. These join the existing Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and NXP i.MX7D devices that have already been supported since Things was in preview.

New SoMs from NXP and Qualcomm

Developers who wish to get started with Things can head to this page for the release notes, and the “Build with Things” page for SDKs, sample code and details on community projects. Google said it’s expecting the first Android Things-powered devices to go on sale between now and the end of summer. Some of the earliest products expected include smart speakers from LG Electronics Inc. and a smart display from Lenovo Group Ltd.

Images: Google