Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much' • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#61

Post by seldo » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 5:58 PM UTC

bbuffone wrote: post #53

sokoloff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Headphones industry is screwing you? And specifically screwing you worse than the others you list later? I'm very curious to hear more about this...

Over the last two years, I have spent about $700 dollars (3x the cost of my iPhone) on 4 different pairs of in-ear headphones that have broken. Wires, connections, shocking my ears have all been part of the experience. Now for the last week, I have been thinking I am going deaf because I need to turn everything to 11 just to hear it. Then I plugged in a different pair, and almost had my ear drums burst form the loudn…

I would suggest not buying headphones which, apparently, cost $175 a pair. I use a pair of very high-quality $99 bose in-ear buds; the point where the wire meets the phone in my pocket is a frequent point of failure, so I use a $14 headphone extension cable, which I replace every 4 months or so. I guess this is still pretty expensive but seems to be less than half the cost of what you're doing right now.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#62

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:15 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#63

Post by skywalker » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:18 PM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #9

Since we've all been screwed by the mobile industry for the entirety of its existence, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel indignant towards Google for pissing off said industry. There are very few industries more arrogant and abusive than the telcos (at least in the US; I dunno about the UK), and if Google wants to take their place, I'm all for it. Instead of playing the consumer-screwing game better (like Apple d…

"...Google looked... the way they were being sold (exclusive to specific carriers, and used to lock consumers in, just like all prior phones) and felt that it just wasn't doing the job the way they'd planned. Android had a reason for existing, and it was to break the logjam in the mobile industry".

If that was their intention, they failed at it. The Nexus One costs about the same as the iPhone to produce, yet the unlocked version is sold by the the same price that what an unlocked iPhone would be. That means their are getting Apple like obscene margins.

No non-technical user in his sane mind would pay $330 more for an unlocked phone.

What they must do, if it is not obvious enough, is to get Amazon like margins and monetize the rest with a wave of new consumers hungry to look at ads.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#64

Post by dhimes » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:28 PM UTC

bbuffone wrote: post #53

sokoloff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Headphones industry is screwing you? And specifically screwing you worse than the others you list later? I'm very curious to hear more about this...

Over the last two years, I have spent about $700 dollars (3x the cost of my iPhone) on 4 different pairs of in-ear headphones that have broken. Wires, connections, shocking my ears have all been part of the experience. Now for the last week, I have been thinking I am going deaf because I need to turn everything to 11 just to hear it. Then I plugged in a different pair, and almost had my ear drums burst form the loudn…

Oh, you mean that shocking-thing going on in my ears isn't supposed to be happening?

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#65

Post by gamble » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:28 PM UTC

jsz0 wrote: post #60

I wouldn't even consider a third Google Android handset in the future. HTC (and others) are burning too many bridges not getting updates out the door fast enough. I can't even run most of Google's new Android first party apps on my phone because I'm stuck with Android 1.5 and Sprint/HTC won't commit to any time table on an update. "2010" is as specific as they want to get. Android 3.x may be out before I even get 2.x…

I suspect that the motivation for an official 'Google Phone' is to provide at least one model that's guaranteed to get firmware updates in a timely fashion. With luck, it will pressure the other handset manufacturers to provide the same service.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#66

Post by msbhvn » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:33 PM UTC

So Apple gets attacked for not allowing their OS to run on non-Apple hw and Google gets attacked for allowing their OS to run on non-Google hardware? (I realize they're actually being criticized for now having their own device here, but just another perspective). I guess you could just not have your own hardware, since that's working so well for WinMo.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#67

Post by angelbob » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 6:58 PM UTC

ytinas wrote: post #50

jnovek wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Substitute Google with Microsoft and the products with MS products (say, Windows and Office) and you would have a common doomsday monopoly prediction ca. 1998. You can probably do the same with IBM before MS, but I'm too young to know. 20 years from now you'll wonder what you were so afraid of. Google is in its golden age, but it won't last forever.

But MS had exactly the weakness I was talking about. If someone gives away their OS for free what will you do? Giving away advertising for free wont affect anything.

Presumably they have a weakness. As you say, it's hard to quantify what they're doing, but that just means we don't have an easy way to figure it out. It still has statistics, limits and numbers, even if only their accountants have a good handle on what those are.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#68

Post by pkulak » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 7:01 PM UTC

All another company needs to do is build a better phone and they'll have all the press again. Without Google's (free, by the way) OS, Motorola would be just about dead by now. And I don't think Sony Ericson or LG had some great mobile OS in the works either. Google may have single-handedly saved a half dozen companies from being eaten alive by Apple later this year when the AT&T exclusivity runs out and all we every hear is how Google is screwing over it's partners by having the gall to have an HTC phone Google branded and sold online.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#69

Post by chrischen » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 7:05 PM UTC

bbuffone wrote: post #45

SwellJoe wrote: post #9

Since we've all been screwed by the mobile industry for the entirety of its existence, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel indignant towards Google for pissing off said industry. There are very few industries more arrogant and abusive than the telcos (at least in the US; I dunno about the UK), and if Google wants to take their place, I'm all for it. Instead of playing the consumer-screwing game better (like Apple d…

Everyone complains about the mobile industry but if I listed the industries that have or are currently screwing me mobile isn't even in the top 10. Health-care, Insurance, Oil, Headphones, Government, Credit cards, Banking, Financial, Video Games, Cable then maybe mobile. My mobile plan is one of the lowest monthly bills that I have based on amount of usage. To my knowledge it is one of the least subsidized industrie…

I find it interesting when people trash the government. In the US atleast, you have some control over it. If you are getting screwed by the government, you have various outlets to mobilize change and if you don't act on them it's no ones fault but your, since the government answers to it's shareholders: you.

Re: Google to mobile industry: 'F*** you very much'

#70

Post by zandorg » Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 7:11 PM UTC

bbuffone wrote: post #53

sokoloff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Headphones industry is screwing you? And specifically screwing you worse than the others you list later? I'm very curious to hear more about this...

Over the last two years, I have spent about $700 dollars (3x the cost of my iPhone) on 4 different pairs of in-ear headphones that have broken. Wires, connections, shocking my ears have all been part of the experience. Now for the last week, I have been thinking I am going deaf because I need to turn everything to 11 just to hear it. Then I plugged in a different pair, and almost had my ear drums burst form the loudn…

Not wanting to place product, but Grado make excellent headphones. iGrado are okay and reliably built, but the SR60's are the best. My ears have not suffered in over 9 years use. The only problem is the SR60's should go through an extension cable, and I even have to re-solder the headphone cable to the cans (the headphone speakers) cable every few months as the connection gets loose with friction.

[Note: These are not in-ear headphones]