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Google’s “Oprah Moment”: An Android Phone For Everyone At Google I/O
- kqr2 17y agoVery cool. Especially good deal for people who registered early and paid only $300 for the conference. For people in academia, it was only $50. http://code.google.com/events/io/faq.html http://code.google.com/events/io/faq.html
- intregus 17y agoThis is a pretty awesome move from Google, but don't be fooled. Google has everything to gain, both from gaining would-be developers, and the PR. Tech Crunch saying something like, "What will we see next week from Apple at its WWDC event? Probably nothing." is really ignorant on a lot of levels.
- icey 17y agoI imagine there aren't many profitable for-profit companies that do anything for purely altruistic reasons.
- potatolicious 17y agoIt may be a shrewd move for Google, but the net effect for attendees remains unchanged - they got a free phone, which is awesome no matter which way you cut it. TC is right, we won't see anything like this from Apple - but then again Apple doesn't seem to have any problems attracting developers. You gotta do what you gotta do...
- kqr2 17y agoIf this is truly an "Oprah Moment", then attendees will also have to pay tax on the phone just like any other prize: http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/newsmakers/oprah_car_tax/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/newsmakers/oprah_car_ta...
- cstejerean 17y agoThe tax on the phone however is significantly lower than the tax on a brand new car and most people shouldn't notice the impact on their tax return documents from a several hundred dollar gift.
- Retric 17y agoYou don't pay tax on gifts only winnings. In the US giving someone that does not work for you up to ~12k/year is tax free, but the person giving the gift needs to pay tax on gifts larger than that. With some paperwork there is a lifetime exception up to 1 million but it comes out of the estate tax exemption. So, if Bill Gates gave his child 1 billion Bill would need to pay ~400 million to the IRS. However, there is an exception for anyone you are married to, and I think educational / heath care gifts are also excluded. PS: I don't know if it counts as a "prize" or a "gift" if you hand it out to everyone that shows up, but I just wanted to make the difference clear.
- joeyo 17y agoI don't see why it's a big deal. Sell the car to cover the tax. You still come out ahead.
- kqr2 17y agoActually, that's one of the options listed in the article.
- zain 17y agoDue to something related to tax, none of the Google employees attending Google I/O were allowed to get the phone.
- SwellJoe 17y agoAlso worth noting: All Googlers got a G1 for Christmas, so presumably all attending Googlers already have an Android phone. (Not the new one, of course, but still...a nice phone running Android.)
- zain 17y agoI'm pretty happy with my iPhone, so I decided to sell my Google I/O phone. If you're interested in trying it out, I'm sure others are doing the same too.
- abossy 17y agoDefinitely interested! I don't believe a U.S. G2 release has been announced.
- AndrewDucker 17y agoThis post, and the comments on it, are a good reason _not_ to ban TechCrunch, as I've seen a few calls to do.