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This is a very dramatic opinion, but its one I've been thinking about for a while. What is Google's five year plan with their hardware ecosystem? The only thin

by 013a 8y ago

This is a very dramatic opinion, but its one I've been thinking about for a while. What is Google's five year plan with their hardware ecosystem? The only thing I can come up with is "continue gathering data to build experiences which enable them to sell ads and continue to gather more data", which feels reductive and has almost nothing to do with hardware. The Pixel has always, in a broader market sense, been a bit of a non-starter. Its a fine device, don't get me wrong, but they sold 3.7M in 2017 [1]. Compare that to ~220M iPhones [2] or ~30M Samsung devices [2]. Its not even close. No one looks at LG's phone business and thinks its healthy, but that's the magnitude of sales we're talking about. And their disastrous attempts at "premium" ChromeOS hardware. The Pixelbook was the most hilariously horrible device Google has ever made (wait... maybe that should go to the Pixel C?). The Slate looks a lot better, but where's the value compared to the cheaper Surface Pro 6 or iPad Pro? ChromeOS is an amazing platform for your grandma, but that doesn't sell units. And how does ChromeOS further Google's broader ecosystem goals? I use G-Suite personally and I feel no draw to buy one of these things, and I should be their target market. If they're trying to take back more control of the Android market, they're failing. So, they've got the web. The "open web" isn't even a strategic moat for them; its the minimum price for them to exist. And geeze, even then, Apple is destroying them by forcing Safari on iOS. This is way out in left field, but I think what Google needs to do is work on a WebASM-native processor architecture and design. Fuchsia and Flutter isn't enough alone, because they're still going to rely on companies like Samsung or Huawei to distribute the hardware, which is tenuous; these companies might see Fuchsia as an opportunity to take even more control of Android. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/13/17007104/google-pixel-total-sales-idc-statistics https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/13/17007104/google-pixel-tot... [2] https://bgr.com/2017/12/29/iphone-vs-samsung-most-popular-tech-products-of-2017/ https://bgr.com/2017/12/29/iphone-vs-samsung-most-popular-te...

Eridrus 8y ago
I think Google is trying to go after the premium segment and try to achieve Apple-like margins by focusing on software. If you look at the the phone specs you'll be completely unimpressed with the Pixel phones. Plenty of cheaper phones have better specs. This is why the Android phone market is so brutal: most OEMs are undifferentiated and are being squeezed because consumers largely see them as interchangeable. Google is the exception to this. So I don't think evaluating them purely on volume is a correct way to assess the health of their business.
pier25 8y ago
Right now Google is learning to make and sell end user devices. Distribution, manufacturing, etc, are no trivial matters and Google isn't a hardware company like Apple. I think today the endgame for these devices is pure marketing. The Slate in particular is intended to bring some cool factor into the ChromeOS world which is seriously lacking. Longer term, I'd say Google is preparing to become a major hardware manufacturer and maybe give a shot at beating Apple at its own game. We know Google is making its own universal OS, we know Google is keeping its hardware business relatively small. I think Google is preparing for the second coming of Fuchsia.

by 013a 8y ago

Eridrus 8y ago

I think Google is trying to go after the premium segment and try to achieve Apple-like margins by focusing on software. If you look at the the phone specs you'll be completely unimpressed with the Pixel phones. Plenty of cheaper phones have better specs. This is why the Android phone market is so brutal: most OEMs are undifferentiated and are being squeezed because consumers largely see them as interchangeable. Google is the exception to this. So I don't think evaluating them purely on volume is a correct way to assess the health of their business.

pier25 8y ago

Right now Google is learning to make and sell end user devices. Distribution, manufacturing, etc, are no trivial matters and Google isn't a hardware company like Apple. I think today the endgame for these devices is pure marketing. The Slate in particular is intended to bring some cool factor into the ChromeOS world which is seriously lacking. Longer term, I'd say Google is preparing to become a major hardware manufacturer and maybe give a shot at beating Apple at its own game. We know Google is making its own universal OS, we know Google is keeping its hardware business relatively small. I think Google is preparing for the second coming of Fuchsia.