Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#41

Post by nirvana » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:25 PM UTC

I think people musnderstand what it is that Apple does best. And what it is is deliver great products that focus on what the consumer needs.

Google has yet to deliver a compelling or wildly popular hardware product to the market. Google is getting really great at propaganda and hype though-- like that carefully set up PR event of brin on the subway with glass.

Glass and this computer are both misfires because glass is just a bluetooth headset with a camera-- it needs a network to work. It needs an iPhone or android device to teather too (and I still think its really going to have bad battery life.)

Same with this netbook-- it doesnt' have a real operating system, and it relies on being connected to the cloud all the time... which is impractical in a lot of ways.

The iPad is the competitor to this device, not the macbook. The macbook is a real computer you can use for development, the iPad you can use for content creation but not really hardcore software development.

The iPad is much cheaper, higher build quality, and doesn't need a network connection to really work.

Google's delivered a lot of products like the nexus, the nexus q that have had a lot of hype but haven't really been big successes.

Until they do make a big hardware success you can't really say they're learning to do what Apple does.

It's not like you just call up foxxconn and say "I want 100 million phones made."

Meanwhile, what google does best is selling customers to advertisers and search.

I'd say Apple getting good at that reasonably fast. Apple's SIRI upended search and was a big jump forward. Apple's iAds has not been as successful, but this is probably due to mobile being a hostile environment for ads (google and facebook aren't having great success yet either.)

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#42

Post by kayoone » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:27 PM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #10

taligent wrote: post #6

The premise is pretty stupid. Firstly Apple does do services. They run the world's biggest media store, the world's biggest syncing platform and a semi popular email service. Sure they aren't perfect but they can be considered successes for the most part. And the point about hardware is completely misguided. Apple's true strength has never been their ability to build a well designed machine. It is the fact that they…

So Google just released a laptop that is actually better than an MBA and you think Apple shouldn't take Google seriously? Good thing you're not running Apple.

the pixel might be on par in terms of build quality but its still a much less usefull laptop due to chromeos, bad battery life and a higher price.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#43

Post by patrickaljord » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:28 PM UTC

rethaw wrote: post #34

patrickaljord wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Google just released a laptop that is actually better than an MBA and you think Apple shouldn't take Google seriously? Good thing you're not running Apple.

>actually better than an MBA Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The Chromebook does have a nice screen, but... - The Chromebook is almost half a pound heavier that the Air. - It only has USB 2.0, not 3.0 like the Air. - It has just a 32GB SSD, the Air has 128GB/256GB/512GB. - It has just 5 hours of battery, compared to 7 hours with the Air. - It only has Bluetooth 3.0, not 4.0 like the Air. - It still start…

Funny to read someone defending Apple based on hardware specs when Apple lovers told us for years that Apple killed specs because no one care about them and that hardware should be judged on its beauty and slickness and the UX of its software which is where the Pixel does indeed shine. As for the 32 GB, the Pixel comes with 1TB of google drive and a "save to Google drive" option.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#44

Post by onemorepassword » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:29 PM UTC

But is Google actually that good at services besides a few great products?

I'm considering moving away from Google Apps, because besides GMail, most apps are a weak and seem to have become stagnant. Google Drive, which we had been waiting for for half a decade, is still buggy, clunky and unreliable. And don't get me started on the UI and the complete inconsistency between various apps.

Yes, Apple has been consistently shite when it comes to online services, and Microsoft entered the game way too late. But I don't think Google has such a major advantage in anything else but search.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#45

Post by taligent » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:32 PM UTC

robryan wrote: post #28

taligent wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realise that Google didn't invent self driving cars and that they aren't even leading the industry. Mercedes Benz demoed the technology nearly 20 years ago and will be shipping cars along with Audi, Volvo etc en masse over the coming years. In fact every single notable car manufacturer has had their own program in place for decades.

How do we know who is leading the industry if the industry doesn't really exist right now?

Firstly, the car companies have been shipping for the last few years many of the key systems of an autonomous car. Even some of the cheapest cars can self park and auto brake in the event of an impending collision. Adding more sensors and better control systems builds on this.

Secondly, nobody knows who is leading the industry. But we know it's not Google since all of the car manufacturers have their own programs in fairly advanced stages. And due to the consolidated nature of the industry key technologies are shared within the groups. So if Google has no one interested in their technologies and they don't make cars then how will they ever lead anything ?

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#46

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:34 PM UTC

nirvana wrote: post #41

I think people musnderstand what it is that Apple does best. And what it is is deliver great products that focus on what the consumer needs. Google has yet to deliver a compelling or wildly popular hardware product to the market. Google is getting really great at propaganda and hype though-- like that carefully set up PR event of brin on the subway with glass. Glass and this computer are both misfires because glass i…

I agree

Having used most linux distros and Mac OS X (and Windows, but I can't stand it anymore now), unfortunately Linux is very behind in user experience (not just interface, but the whole experience)

Granted, some of this are hardware/drivers issues (like getting suspend/sleep correctly, good wifi drivers, etc)

Maybe Chromebook can make this better.

- Google hand picked the hardware and can provide the best (sw) configuration for it

- Google makes the browser the center of the experience, so as long as the browser works ok, there's very little beyond that (a basic window manager, network manager, basic linux system, etc)

And yes, you're right, it's more close to an "iPad with a keyboard"

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#47

Post by kayoone » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:35 PM UTC

ishansharma wrote: post #39

kayoone wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not really happy that Microsoft always is the example of a boring company while they have clearly been more innovative and bold than Apple in recent years. They built alot of cool tech in their labs and also release products that arent another iteration of older products to play it safe, eg. Surface, Windows 8, Metro, Kinect

Credit to them for these products but they still lack something. I don't know what exactly but we are talking about a company that innovated and still wasn't able to move a lot of units around! Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 have been so so, Surface RT did not sell well compared to competition.

their main problem is being late to the party imo. Windows 8, Phone 8 and the Surface Pro are pretty excellent. We are seeing the first generation of proper laptop/tablet hybrids that could really change the way we see computing. Those products might not come from MS directly, eg. Thinkpad Helix, but they enabled it and i think its awesome to be able to choose from hundreds of different devices.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#48

Post by mkr-hn » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:37 PM UTC

pinaceae wrote: post #4

the big question is though, can Google also be awesome in Services going forward? i am loyal user of chrome, gmail, search, youtube, maps, picasa - in this order. none of which is younger than what, 5 years? innovation in those items? gmail got a new UI, but else? where are the BETA products? used to be the awesomeness of Google. ever since Page took over, they've been killing the small, useful things. ok, they want…

Google was always a search and ad company, and this refocusing lets the company go back to its roots while other companies build on Google's progress. Microsoft thrashed about and did a lot of damage when it was where Google is now. I prefer this approach.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#49

Post by kayoone » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:37 PM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #43

rethaw wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>actually better than an MBA Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The Chromebook does have a nice screen, but... - The Chromebook is almost half a pound heavier that the Air. - It only has USB 2.0, not 3.0 like the Air. - It has just a 32GB SSD, the Air has 128GB/256GB/512GB. - It has just 5 hours of battery, compared to 7 hours with the Air. - It only has Bluetooth 3.0, not 4.0 like the Air. - It still start…

Funny to read someone defending Apple based on hardware specs when Apple lovers told us for years that Apple killed specs because no one care about them and that hardware should be judged on its beauty and slickness and the UX of its software which is where the Pixel does indeed shine. As for the 32 GB, the Pixel comes with 1TB of google drive and a "save to Google drive" option.

it still has just a webbrowser as the os, less battery life and is more expensive. Those things add alot to the user experience. Its a very nice device but its not better than an MBA or other good Ultrabooks.

Re: Google is getting better at what Apple does best faster than Apple

#50

Post by jmduke » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:44 PM UTC

nirvana wrote: post #41

I think people musnderstand what it is that Apple does best. And what it is is deliver great products that focus on what the consumer needs. Google has yet to deliver a compelling or wildly popular hardware product to the market. Google is getting really great at propaganda and hype though-- like that carefully set up PR event of brin on the subway with glass. Glass and this computer are both misfires because glass i…

I agree with the vast majority of what you said, but Siri upending search seems incredibly pre-emptive.

I think Siri opens a lot of doors, but 90% of the Siri use I've seen (which I admit is somewhat anecdotal, but still) is hands-free texting & easter eggs ("Siri, where can I hide a body?")

Once Apple opens up Siri's functionality a bit more and makes it actually actionable ("Siri, pre-order my usual Chipotle burrito, please.") then things are going to go crazy.