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Actually this post explains why he's doing that: https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN
by eloisant 11y ago
Actually this post explains why he's doing that:
https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN
It kind of makes sense: he worked on products that use USB-C (Pixel laptops), but if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on.
So what he's doing is in the interest in his employer, and for the benefit of the products he worked on. He's not doing completely unrelated stuff, like reviewing routers while claiming "I work for Google so I know how shit works!"
Additionally he's preventing Pixel owners (Google customers) from buying bad cables on Amazon then blaming Google because the laptop doesn't charge. So it really looks like he's doing his job.
- radiorental 11y agoI understand the rationale, but isn't the current s.o.p. to ship a good cable with the product? "if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on." I don't buy this tail wagging the dog argument. Sorry.
- vacri 11y agoPeople frequently buy multiple cables for various reasons. For example, I have three microUSB cables for my phone, which only came with one - for charging at my home computer, work computer, and in my laptop bag.
- Turing_Machine 11y agoI do the exact same thing. Keeping one at home, one at work, and one in the bag means one less thing to worry about leaving behind/not having when you need it.
- vidarh 11y agoI don't see why shipping a good cable with the product makes a difference. My house is full of USB chargers, because I want to be able to charge multiple devices several places in the living room as well as our bedrooms. Then there's the portable battery packs etc. One cable per device is insufficient for a lot of us.
- radiorental 11y agoThen you create a list of recommended cables. You don't bury that data in amazon reviews - if that's the intended purpose of releasing this information
- monocasa 11y agoI almost never read a "recommended" list. Far too often it's simply a list of companies that paid to be on said list.
- maxerickson 11y agoIn the extreme, this kind of thing can end up cleaning up the marketplace.
- bmelton 11y agoThey do have a list of recommended cables -- the ones that they sell. Regardless, that doesn't mean that the Google Store is the first place people go to get a "standard" cable, especially as it isn't necessarily the cheapest. To many, a cable is a cable is a cable, and preventing someone from buying a commodity part that might damage their phone is a good objective, no matter how it's done. Posting Amazon reviews might not be the optimal way to get me to buy the "right" cables, but it's a pretty effective way at preventing me from buying the wrong ones.
- MichaelGG 11y agoUsers often desire more than one cable.
- x0x0 11y agoIf only there were some way for google to get high quality usb-c cables to customers! Like not charging $13 plus shipping for a 1m cable (a ridiculous profit margin), and keeping them in stock. Or hell, throwing 5 of them in with everything they sell that uses usb-c. I mean, that would have to cost dollars. Whole dollars, on a $500 phone! https://store.google.com/product/usb_type_c_to_usb_standard_a_plug_cable https://store.google.com/product/usb_type_c_to_usb_standard_...
- fixermark 11y agoThe fact that the market is full of low-cost USB-C cables that aren't reliable may suggest that the cables cost $13 because it's actually a $13 problem to get it right. ;)
- odbol 11y agoIt's probably not. It's just no one is buying USB-C cables yet. Once they are common and produced at massive scale, the price will drop considerably.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoOh they are produced on a massive scale, and they are cheap - in Shenzhen, it's easier to find them now than the ordinary ones. Every other vendor has them stacked up to the roof.
- Dylan16807 11y agoNah, it just suggests that nobody cares.
- kllrnohj 11y agoThe ones on Amazon are all $15-$20 and even monoprice is $10 Since Google isn't the manufacturer they are not making a ridiculous profit margin. Whole dollars on a $500 phone is more likely to be Google's entire profit margin, though. The profit margins on phones is razor thin unless you're Apple.