Google has unveiled a giant touch-screen canvas for companies trying to make it easier for their employees to brainstorm as they work on team projects and other assignments.

    The Jamboard will replace the whiteboard, the firm hopes, and will go on sale in May for US$4,999. It boasts a 55-inch, ultra high-definition screen capable of recognizing the difference between when someone is writing on it with a stylus* or touching it with a finger.

    Users can also use smaller tablets to share information and content from anywhere with an online connection. All the work posted on a Jamboard can be saved in Google’s online storage service, Drive.

    Jamboard represents Google’s latest effort to lure business and government customers away from Microsoft, which makes a similar product called the Surface Hub.

    Using Jamboard will require a subscription to Google’s G Suite of email and other business applications, a service that starts at US$5 per month, and there is also a US$600 per year maintenance* fee.

    Jamboard reinforces Google’s push to make its own gear in an attempt to hook more people on its software and other digital services.

    Until this fall, Google had teamed up with other manufacturers* whenever it made a phone or other gadget.

    But Google just rolled out a fancy smartphone called the Pixel that it designed itself. Soon it will start selling an Internet-connected speaker called Home.

    Both those devices feature a digital assistant powered by Google’s artificial intelligence (AI*) programs.

    Jamboard operates with an application that works on smartphones and tablets powered either by Google’s Android software or Apple’s operating system for iPhones and Pads.

    Jamboard won’t work with Microsoft’s Windows system, making it incompatible* with Surface tablets and most personal computers.

    (SD-Agencies)