Chromecast Not Replaced by Nexus Player; New Dongle Coming Says Google

A Google executive has revealed that the Mountain View giant is working on the second iteration of its Chromecast dongle, which was released in July last year.

In a recent interview with Gigaom at its Structure Connect conference on Tuesday, Google's VP of Product Management, Mario Queiroz, when asked whether the recently unveiled Nexus Player and Android TV would be replacing the Chromecast device, replied "There will be a second version of Chromecast in the future."

Queiroz did not provide any further details on the second version of the Google Chromecast, but he did mention that Google is working to improve its first screen-second screen experience.

"I can say we really want to bring the richness of this first screen-second screen experience to life," said Queiroz to Gigaom. "The hardware capabilities will give us a better opportunity to take full advantage of a large screen paired with a small screen."

Adding to that, Queiroz said Google is building an "ecosystem of endpoints", with the Chromecast dongle and other "Chromecast devices" representing these endpoints.

Queiroz also talked about how Chromecast adoption is rising, rising from the cast button being used 400 million times to 650 million times within the last three months. He added that more than 6,000 developers are building more than 10,000 apps for the company's Chromecast ecosystem.

The Google executive also gave details about the expansion of the new Backdrop feature on Chromecast that lets users set photos from their Google+ account, or imagery from Google Cultural Institute and Google Maps, as their custom background on connected devices. Queiroz said Google is looking to introduce social feeds from Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter on Backdrop, and will be releasing an API for developers to work on the feature.

Google earlier this month pushed out an updated Chromecast app for Android and iOS devices which allowed users to set a custom 'Backdrop' image while casting.

With the updated Chromecast app for Android and iOS, users can choose a Backdrop from their photo albums on Google+, artwork images from galleries and museums around the world via the Google Cultural Institute, satellite imagery of some of the hardest-to-reach places on Earth from Google Maps, and images from Google+ community. Additionally, users in the US can also choose from news and lifestyle images from New York Times, Guardian, Saveur and more.