5 ms·

don't know about google tv, but chromecast is wildly successful.

by tehlike 6y ago

Spare_account 6y ago
Is product success a useful metric for whether or not Google cancel services?
- achtung82 6y ago
  Usually yes.
- animationwill 6y ago
  >> Is product success a useful metric for whether or not Google cancel services? Yes. Unsuccessful products get cancelled. The successful services get to stay but the customers get hit with "insane price hikes": https://www.geoawesomeness.com/developers-up-in-arms-over-google-maps-api-insane-price-hike/ https://www.geoawesomeness.com/developers-up-in-arms-over-go...
  - treesknees 6y ago
    Except for Reader, Inbox, Cloud Print, the Nest API, Code, among many others I'm sure. It doesn't seem to matter whether they're successful or popular.
    - tehlike 6y ago
      I was a big reader person, but google is victim of its own success. These products were barely above a few million users. At google scale,1% is more than 15m person, and usually 1% is not justifiable
- tiz_io 6y ago
  Yes. But also no. RIP Reader.
  - falcolas 6y ago
    Probably didn't help that there wasn't an easy path to monetization for Reader.
    - mbreese 6y ago
      Huh? If Google didn't want to charge a fee for use (which doesn't seem to be how Google works), then they could easily have inserted their own adds into the RSS feeds. Or had an ad bar in the Reader interface. It seems like Google of all places would have been able to figure out how to support that with ads. I just don't think that they wanted to. It didn't fit into how they thought people would be interacting with the Internet in the future, and I can't say they were all that wrong...
      - tehlike 6y ago
        Too small of a product for google scale. See my other comment in this thread.
Someone1234 6y ago
Combing both Chromecast and Android TV (e.g. Nvidia Shield) has a less than 10% market share. Making it smaller than Samsung, Amazon, and much smaller than Roku (market leader). It seems to have a hardcore audience that think the world of it (or who haven't tried anything else), but most of the market moved on years ago. If anything this Google TV "Chromecast" is designed to make Chromecast relevant again.
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  I've heard that outside the US, Android TV is very successful.
  - OkGoDoIt 6y ago
    At least in China, so many TVs and projectors and set top boxes use Android under the hood, but they are so heavily customized it’s sometimes hard to tell. And it’s definitely not standard “Android TV“
  - mikecoles 6y ago
    Android, yes. Google, no. There are so many knockoffs of knockoffs of Android STBs that you usually pick them up for < $30.
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  > If anything this Google TV "Chromecast" is designed to make Chromecast relevant again. Chromecast has always had the issue that it's main users are the tech savvy who are comfortable controlling everything via smartphone. That's not a huge percent of the population. By adding the remote and going for the play of helping you navigate cross app, they seem to be trying to extend out to less savvy users who need a more guided product. Overall it seems like the longterm plan is to push their subscription services, since I can't imagine they make great money from the devices themselves. Increasing user base is the best way for them to achieve that goal.
  - AshleyGrant 6y ago

don't know about google tv, but chromecast is wildly successful.

Spare_account 6y ago

Is product success a useful metric for whether or not Google cancel services?

achtung82 6y ago
Usually yes.
animationwill 6y ago
>> Is product success a useful metric for whether or not Google cancel services? Yes. Unsuccessful products get cancelled. The successful services get to stay but the customers get hit with "insane price hikes": https://www.geoawesomeness.com/developers-up-in-arms-over-google-maps-api-insane-price-hike/ https://www.geoawesomeness.com/developers-up-in-arms-over-go...
- treesknees 6y ago
  Except for Reader, Inbox, Cloud Print, the Nest API, Code, among many others I'm sure. It doesn't seem to matter whether they're successful or popular.
  - tehlike 6y ago
    I was a big reader person, but google is victim of its own success. These products were barely above a few million users. At google scale,1% is more than 15m person, and usually 1% is not justifiable
tiz_io 6y ago
Yes. But also no. RIP Reader.
- falcolas 6y ago
  Probably didn't help that there wasn't an easy path to monetization for Reader.
  - mbreese 6y ago
    Huh? If Google didn't want to charge a fee for use (which doesn't seem to be how Google works), then they could easily have inserted their own adds into the RSS feeds. Or had an ad bar in the Reader interface. It seems like Google of all places would have been able to figure out how to support that with ads. I just don't think that they wanted to. It didn't fit into how they thought people would be interacting with the Internet in the future, and I can't say they were all that wrong...
    - tehlike 6y ago
      Too small of a product for google scale. See my other comment in this thread.

Someone1234 6y ago

Combing both Chromecast and Android TV (e.g. Nvidia Shield) has a less than 10% market share. Making it smaller than Samsung, Amazon, and much smaller than Roku (market leader). It seems to have a hardcore audience that think the world of it (or who haven't tried anything else), but most of the market moved on years ago. If anything this Google TV "Chromecast" is designed to make Chromecast relevant again.

TulliusCicero 6y ago
I've heard that outside the US, Android TV is very successful.
- OkGoDoIt 6y ago
  At least in China, so many TVs and projectors and set top boxes use Android under the hood, but they are so heavily customized it’s sometimes hard to tell. And it’s definitely not standard “Android TV“
- mikecoles 6y ago
  Android, yes. Google, no. There are so many knockoffs of knockoffs of Android STBs that you usually pick them up for < $30.
vorpalhex 6y ago
> If anything this Google TV "Chromecast" is designed to make Chromecast relevant again. Chromecast has always had the issue that it's main users are the tech savvy who are comfortable controlling everything via smartphone. That's not a huge percent of the population. By adding the remote and going for the play of helping you navigate cross app, they seem to be trying to extend out to less savvy users who need a more guided product. Overall it seems like the longterm plan is to push their subscription services, since I can't imagine they make great money from the devices themselves. Increasing user base is the best way for them to achieve that goal.
- AshleyGrant 6y ago