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Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

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Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#11
post #4

It’s amazing how much the industry leaders just copy each other. Google didn’t throw the towel in until Amazon did first.

Everyone is constantly worried about missing out on the next smartphone. Apple and Google got in early, and others who tried to follow failed. Voice assistant and VR are both examples of strategic investment over what the market really supports in demand.

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#12

Notably Fitbit and AR are now dead: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/10/24033994/google-reorganiz...

Is there a good explanation for why Google started Pixel Watch when they already had FitBit? I would have understood a rebranding of FitBit to Pixel Watch, but it seems like that's not what happened.

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#13
post #4

It’s amazing how much the industry leaders just copy each other. Google didn’t throw the towel in until Amazon did first.

Relative company stock performance dominates executive compensation (iirc, 80% of Alphabet CEO pay is relative outperformance of S&P500), so copying other large public tech companies is an outcome of the incentives.

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#14
post #4

It’s amazing how much the industry leaders just copy each other. Google didn’t throw the towel in until Amazon did first.

If one of google's working theories is they should hire people to keep them away from other organizations then it makes sense they don't fire until they see their competitors start.

They probably tried to move as many as possible to Bard or to backfill Ads / Android etc but some of these are people who wouldn’t / couldn’t move. It mainly signals that upper management is not up to task and made bad bets. Fitbit was a great product and for Google to axe the founders says “we care about monetizing users not serving them.”

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#15

Notably Fitbit and AR are now dead: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/10/24033994/google-reorganiz...

Is there a good explanation for why Google started Pixel Watch when they already had FitBit? I would have understood a rebranding of FitBit to Pixel Watch, but it seems like that's not what happened.

I'm sure Pixel Watch as a project predates the acquisition. Garden variety corporate turf war.

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#16

Notably Fitbit and AR are now dead: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/10/24033994/google-reorganiz...

Is there a good explanation for why Google started Pixel Watch when they already had FitBit? I would have understood a rebranding of FitBit to Pixel Watch, but it seems like that's not what happened.

Not the entire answer but apparently Pixel watch massively outperformed Fitbit as of late: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/pixel-watch-sales-po...

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one of google's working theories is they should hire people to keep them away from other organizations then it makes sense they don't fire until they see their competitors start.

They probably tried to move as many as possible to Bard or to backfill Ads / Android etc but some of these are people who wouldn’t / couldn’t move. It mainly signals that upper management is not up to task and made bad bets. Fitbit was a great product and for Google to axe the founders says “we care about monetizing users not serving them.”

> Fitbit was a great product and for Google to axe the founders says “we care about monetizing users not serving them.”

Is this really a surprise to anyone at this point?

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#18

Notably Fitbit and AR are now dead: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/10/24033994/google-reorganiz...

Is there a good explanation for why Google started Pixel Watch when they already had FitBit? I would have understood a rebranding of FitBit to Pixel Watch, but it seems like that's not what happened.

This is speculation based on how stupid-looking decisions typically happen at big companies: Internal politics.

Probably there was an internal team outside the Fitbit group that wanted to build a watch. Their leader(s) had enough political clout to get the okay for a parallel effort, and apparently enough to eventually kill the Fitbit group entirely.

Again this is pure speculation, but once a company exceeds a certain size it's amazing how much waste can occur because of infighting.

Re: Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams

#19
post #4

It’s amazing how much the industry leaders just copy each other. Google didn’t throw the towel in until Amazon did first.

If one of google's working theories is they should hire people to keep them away from other organizations then it makes sense they don't fire until they see their competitors start.

I’m sure there are a handful of domain experts that Google would prefer to keep on staff even if they are working on pet projects, but Google is certainly not hiring thousands of extra engineers to keep them away from Microsoft and Meta.
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