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Jamboard is now available
- morinted 9y agoWhat am I missing that makes this so expensive? Is it just a "Google Glass"-syndrome kind of thing? This is a $5,000 whiteboard with an annual SAAS fee.
- michaelbuckbee 9y agoProbably better to consider it a piece of high end teleconferencing equipment - at which that price point looks if not "cheap" at least pretty reasonable.
- Meph504 9y agoI can't say that I agree with a $6000 hardware price and $600 a year SAAS as reasonable for what's offered. Do you have some comparable products?
- ferentchak 9y agoI think this is close. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoints/spark-board/index.html http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoint...
- kyrra 9y agoWhich is $6100 on CDW. https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Cisco-Spark-Board-55-video-conferencing-device/4479754.aspx https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Cisco-Spark-Board-55-video...
- stuffedBelly 9y agoMicrosoft's Surface Hub seems similar. https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub/en-us https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub/en-us
- tinco 9y agoComparable digital whiteboards go for similar (or larger) amounts. $5000 is actually not that expensive. The real question, is why isn't it free? As in, why can't we just download this from the Play store and use it on whatever we device we already have, like everything else in the G suite? Microsoft is already moving in this space, not sure about Apple, but I guess there's just a lot of money here.
- packetslave 9y agoThe real question, is why isn't it free? Because there's already a well-established (presumably high-margin) market for this technology, and it turns out that making money is something that companies like to do.
- and0 9y agoThey do actually mention there being a Jamboard app being rolled out this week for iOS and Android, but there are no details that I could find.
- tensafefrogs 9y agoHere's the Play store app link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.jam&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
- oatmealsnap 9y agoRight? Android device + UHD Screen + a few extra proprietary styluses.
- TylerE 9y agoA decent 55" 4k touchscreen costs almost as much as this though - and that's with a PC to drive it.
- adfm 9y agoIt's the attention to detail that counts in this case. They're clearly going for the experience rather than cobbling together gear and expecting to work. Response time, heft of the stylus, composability of the software, durability, compatibility, reliability; that's what you're paying for. This thing isn't for startups (use a whiteboard, stay lean!).
- mbesto 9y ago> What am I missing that makes this so expensive? The price of something is correlated directly with what people are willing to pay for it. I'm 100% certain companies will pay for this. The value proposition is pretty huge for this sort of tech.
- adfm 9y agoThe build quality is high because it's meant to be touched. Think about it, how often do you touch your TV at home or your monitor? If you're using a Windows 10 all-in-one, you'll likely notice that it's not quite the same as a standard monitor. Now imagine a group of people touching it continuously throughout the day, and instead of gingerly tapping away at it with their fingers, they're treating it like a piece of office furniture. The Jamboard feels like a nice piece of office furniture from Herman Miller vs. something cheap from Costco. It might seem expensive, but you get what you pay for. The price will more than justify itself for any business that understands the utility of a collaborative whiteboard that seamlessly integrates with the tools they they already use. Plus, it's one of those things that you have to experience to fully understand.
- ungzd 9y ago"Cloud service" supporting it will probably not last for long.
- davidjnelson 9y agoThe post is light on details. If this is actually a collaborative whiteboard that would be a huge boon for remote work.
- stevesearer 9y agoHere's the spec sheet which has some extra details: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/gsuite.google.com/en//files/Jamboard_Specs.pdf https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/gsuite.google.com... Also the actual product landing page has some info too: https://gsuite.google.com/products/jamboard/ https://gsuite.google.com/products/jamboard/
- davidjnelson 9y agoThanks. The main landing page is much better. Still a little unclear on whether 16 touch points is spread across all remote locations. So if there's 5 jam boards and three stylus/eraser sets at each, that sounds perfect. Glad to see someone finally built this, nice!
- trevyn 9y ago"16 touch points" is just the spec for the touchscreen hardware -- "Jamboard supports up to 16 touchpoints at once on a single device."
- jtraffic 9y agoI'd love to hear from anyone who is planning to buy one. It feels as if collaboration tools are made for a type of collaboration that people don't really do. Consider this delightful gem of marketing copy: "Jamboard breaks down barriers to interactive, visual collaboration across teams everywhere" Whenever I've engaged in "interactive, visual collaboration," the visual content has been super context-specific. This meant there was usually a purpose-built tool for that kind of collaboration (e.g., wireframe mockups for websites, storyboards for videos).
- wdfx 9y agohaha. "a pen and paper breaks down barriers to interactive, visual collaboration across teams everywhere" feels more truthful
- Eridrus 9y agoThe price on these is high, but I've definitely wanted a way to draw diagrams that I can show people in teleconferences. Since I was usually remote this meant a tablet, rather than a whiteboard, but I can definitely see how this would be useful for explaining things to people who are remote.
- notatoad 9y agoMicrosoft's version has apparently been selling like hotcakes, so i guess it is a type of collaboration that people really do.
- jtraffic 9y ago>Microsoft's version has apparently been selling like hotcakes I was going to ask you for more on this, but found an Ars Technica article with a bit more info: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/microsofts-surface-hub-sales-surprisingly-strong-its-a-huge-hardware-hit/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/micro...
- beisner 9y agoI see it more as breaking down barriers to distributed working. Anything that reduces the collaboration gap between collocates and distributed teams is a win in my book., since it could help enable a cultural change at companiesz
- Stickipete 9y agoThats awesome. I bet Googles been using one of these for years.
- accountyaccount 9y agoThis will eat SmartBoard's lunch and I'm all for it — existing stand-alone collaborative whiteboard technology is shit. I'm guessing this originated as a tool for Google's internal teams? The market for it isn't all that big outside of startups (but it exists).
- habosa 9y agoInterestingly I work at Google and I haven't seen or used one yet, but maybe it just didn't make it to my building in testing.
- oatmealsnap 9y agoWasn't the idea behind create Alphabet that Google would focus on Search-related stuff, while the parent company could create all these wild IoT products?
- and0 9y agoThat idea makes sense, but the Google brand / ecosystem is probably too important not to leverage.
- dragonwriter 9y agoNo, it was that Google would focus on the established businesses that weren't rolled out into other parts of Alphabet. The G Suite (formerly Google Apps) enterprise offering, which this is part of, was part of the core business retained in Google. This is not a wild IoT product, it's a competitive entry in the enterprise collaboration space that G Suite targets.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- emsy 9y agoMy first thought upon reading this was: This looks cool, I wonder how long it will take until they kill it. I wonder if I'm alone with this gut reaction?
- notatoad 9y agoI'm sure you aren't alone, but i'm getting very tired of this comment appearing on every single google product or feature announcement. It's not interesting or insightful, it adds nothing to the discussion other than cliched whining.
- jwcooper 9y agoGoogle has an amazing list of discontinued products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discon... I'm not saying it's terrible to buy Google products, but maybe wait until it's a success first. There is very little reason to risk being an early adopter of a Google product. The recent Google Home (not a cheap product) advertising snafu is another recent red flag for buying any Google product. Edit: Parent originally commented about 'getting over Google Reader being discontinued'.
- notatoad 9y agoYes, google discontinues products. Sometimes they're even products I like, and it makes me angry. But reading this thread on every single discussion about any google product is getting tiresome.
- GrinningFool 9y agoBut this line of discussion remains relevant whenever a new Google product or service is announced. If we want to avoid the conversation, Google needs to put out some clear language around project/product/service EOL and support for everything it introduces.
- casca 9y agoThe Jamboard is a collaborative whiteboard that costs $5k for a 4k 55" screen plus $600/year ($300/year for early adopters). It's similar to Microsoft's Surface Hub[1], Cisco's Spark Board[2] and SMART Technologies SmartBoard[3]. Pricing seems about normal for products in this space, even a little low. I'd think that the big question that anyone considering buying this should be asking is around Google's history with hardware support and service. This kind of product will often be expected to be used for 5+ years and the dependency of a non-core service from Google could affect that. As I'm looking to purchase one of the products in this space, here is a little more comparison info in case anyone else finds it useful. Only Google will sell you one of their devices, everyone else goes through resellers with opaque pricing and unpublished RRPs. Microsoft Surface Hub 55": 1920x1080 @120Hz, 4th Generation i5, Intel HD 4600, 2x HD cameras. Windows 10 + MS Office Microsoft Surface Hub 85" 3840x2160 @120Hz, 4th generation i7, NVIDIA Quadro K2200, 2x HD cameras. Windows 10 + MS Office Cisco Spark Board 55": 4k (4096x2160?) display, unknown hardware and software, 4k camera. Cisco Spark and SIP protocols supported, requires Cisco Collaboration Cloud service. Cisco Spark Board 70": same as 55" SMART Board 8055i 55"/8065i 65"/8084i 84": 3840x2160, 4k available. Doesn't seem to have cameras for videoconferencing, comes with SMART Meeting Pro 4.0 software to "collaborate in the 4th dimension", whatever that means. Google Jamboard 55: 55" 4k (4096x2160?) @60Hz. Unknown hardware, software probably Android? Costs $5000. Requires Google's G-Suite subscription, uses Hangouts and $600/year annual management and support fee. EOL is May 2021 [1] https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub [2] http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoints/spark-board/ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoint... [3] https://home.smarttech.com/interactive-displays-for-business https://home.smarttech.com/interactive-displays-for-business
- Roritharr 9y agoWhat is your favorite? We use a mix out of all products, but arent G Suite Customers for a variety of reasons. Is the Surface Hub relatively "open" to be used with with Third Party Software?
- and0 9y agoI'm sort of confused about the annual management / support fee. Sounds like this would be a cool accessory that would require G Apps and therefore bring startups into the ecosystem. Why charge support for something so expensive that also requires G Suite for every user in the first place? Why isn't the functionality just linked directly into some G Suite OneNote equivalent? I feel like that fee would really kill the appeal, if I were hunting for something like this. Also, I'm assuming there would be a support fee for each device?
- draw_down 9y agoThis seems like exactly the sort of thing they won't have the dedication to support for very long. $5k for this thing is quite risky in that sense. edit: Oh, it's actually over $6k if you want the rolling stand, which you will.
- lerie 9y agoWhy not just a webcam and a touch screen? Seems like it won't last, the pricing is outrageous.
- dragonwriter 9y agoIt's not at all outrageous for an enterprise product in its space.
- chickenbane 9y agoThe Jamboard does way more than that, you can see them demo it at Next: https://youtu.be/kwnWfHq2EfQ?t=1h40m33s https://youtu.be/kwnWfHq2EfQ?t=1h40m33s If you've been in countless business meetings whiteboarding, Jamboard is definitely not outrageous.
- rmac 9y agoone painfully obvious missing feature: voice capture. It seems to so natural to integrate google assistant into this thing. I wonder when 'Alexa' for meetings will be good enough to commercialize.
- markaius 9y agoI don't think it will be hard for them to introduce voice commands to it with the google home. I understand not wanting to spend more money on another device but this is their whiteboard, then google home is their voice command module.
- askvictor 9y agoI'm curious if the Android app will run well on the touchscreen panels that I've got that area already running Android; or indeed on an Android dongle/box connected to and large (tv sized) touchscreen
- artur_makly 9y agothis seems like an evolution of https://mural.co/ https://mural.co/ - which does a decent job, but this is next level stuff. bravo
- nevir 9y agoWhy does the stand cost $1350!? (or a mere $1200 during introductory pricing)
- napolux 9y agoDear Google, Please stop producing cool things you're not able to sell. Sincerely, World. P.s. I still can't buy the latest google phone because I live outside US.