Don’t believe us quite yet? As 9to5google points out, there are a number of other clues that would suggest the recently revealed patent could’ve been the blueprint for the Chromecast. First of all, the patent was filed very close to the launch date of the Google device, and one of the descriptions in the patent reads, “a perspective view of a media streaming device showing our new design.”
Then, there are also the folks credited with the device’s design. Kristen Beck is listed as one of the inventors, and she led the Google’s “Living Room” team, which, lo and behold, was responsible for hardware products, including the Chromecast. Michael Sundermeyer also appears on the patent as a designer — Sundermeyer is Director of UX for Google Home products, and you can actually find the second-generation Chromecast as an example of recent work on his website.
Finally and perhaps most tellingly is an old image that Google shared when it was first teasing customers about the new Chromecast way back in 2015. In this photo, we can see a number of sketches that bear a striking resemblance to the images found in the patent. But alas, as we all know all too well, this is not the design Google ultimately opted for.
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