Google's Software Steals Limelight From Hardware at Nexus Event

At an event meant to showcase hardware, Google spent a lot of time on software. The Web-search company is mining and weaving together its storehouses of user data to create devices meant to woo buyers away from Apple’s smartphones and tablets.

While showing off new Nexus phones in San Francisco Tuesday, Google Inc.’s future Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and a handful of other executives sought to highlight how the company’s vast machine learning systems can give consumers a better experience when navigating their own devices and the Internet. These systems analyze and predict users’ behavior and preferences from across Google’s various sites and databases.