Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#21

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:20 PM UTC

ohaideredevs wrote: post #4

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

GCP is the cleanest cloud platform by far. But it's also the one I know only in theory, whereas I have worked with Azure and AWS enough to seem them fail miserably, so maybe I have a case of rose-tinted glasses.

I've worked with GCP, and especially Firebase is a fantastic platform.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#22

Post by xrd » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:21 PM UTC

bilal4hmed wrote: post #16

xrd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, Google makes (specifically subcontracts out) the Pixel (but it is their branded device). It definitely is not the most popular Android phone out there. Google makes the Pixelbook. It is definitely not the "best" laptop when you consider less expensive alternatives, and it is not the best seller. But, Android would be called a successful strategy. And, Chromebooks would be called a successful strategy. What I'm tr…

The problem with Chromebooks is that they have always been touted as a way to get a computer very cheaply. Years have gone by with the marketing being that Chromebooks are cheap. When you get pixelbooks that are $600 to $1500 people are going to have sticker shock, no matter how great the product is. The pixel phones on the other hand have been selling better ( in fact grew quite a bit numbers wise as well ). The pho…

I bought the Pixelbook (online) for a little less than full price.

I also bought another Chromebook at BestBuy that was ~$250.

I was blown away by another Chromebook that had a 17" screen and was less than $300 at the store. I was overwhelmed by the options (and BestBuy never helps because their employees must be rated on how well they can hide in the store and not how well they can help customers).

There are plenty of options in store and online, most of which hover around the $300 price point, which is very competitive.

If you are buying a Pixelbook you are buying it because you want Linux on it, or the amazing screen, and are calculating that into it. If you want an inexpensive Chromebook, you aren't stymied in that search by price.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#23

Post by drdeadringer » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:21 PM UTC

I may be soon in the market for a new Android tablet. Does anybody have suggestions?

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#24

Post by sequence7 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:21 PM UTC

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

The only thing they have going for them is:

* They have the most popular operating system in the world

* They have the most popular browser in the world

* They have the most popular search engine in the world

* They have the most popular advertising network in the world

* They have the most popular video platform in the world

* They have the most popular mapping software in the world

* They have the third most popular cloud platform in the world

It seems to me that they're doing at least something right

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#25

Post by dylan604 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:23 PM UTC

spaceflunky wrote: post #6

Building hardware is difficult. Like really difficult. More difficult that anyone expects it to be.

Sums up most of Kickstarter or any crowd funded hardware product that fails to launch. People get super excited about the prototype they built, but then come to realize that mass producing is way more difficult than anticipated. The money raised in crowd funding gets burned through faster than anticipated with the various iterations with each of their vendors.

As guess could be said of any startup though. Not just hardware.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#26

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

xrd wrote: post #14

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

So, Google makes (specifically subcontracts out) the Pixel (but it is their branded device). It definitely is not the most popular Android phone out there. Google makes the Pixelbook. It is definitely not the "best" laptop when you consider less expensive alternatives, and it is not the best seller. But, Android would be called a successful strategy. And, Chromebooks would be called a successful strategy. What I'm tr…

Chromebooks are only successful if one constrains the world to the US school system.

Outside that they are even less than the worldwide GNU/Linux desktop market, hardly a measure of success.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#27

Post by dylan604 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

You're leaving out their most important product: AdSense.

After that, every other product is just a mechanism to feed the beast including search.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#28

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

xrd wrote: post #14

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

So, Google makes (specifically subcontracts out) the Pixel (but it is their branded device). It definitely is not the most popular Android phone out there. Google makes the Pixelbook. It is definitely not the "best" laptop when you consider less expensive alternatives, and it is not the best seller. But, Android would be called a successful strategy. And, Chromebooks would be called a successful strategy. What I'm tr…

[deleted]

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#29

Post by fvjft » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

xrd wrote: post #14

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

So, Google makes (specifically subcontracts out) the Pixel (but it is their branded device). It definitely is not the most popular Android phone out there. Google makes the Pixelbook. It is definitely not the "best" laptop when you consider less expensive alternatives, and it is not the best seller. But, Android would be called a successful strategy. And, Chromebooks would be called a successful strategy. What I'm tr…

The Pixel could've been a success if they hadn't sold it at such a high price. They think they are Apple, but they obviously are not.

Re: Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

#30

Post by s3r3nity » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 5:27 PM UTC

sequence7 wrote: post #24

burtonator wrote: post #3

Google can't seem to do anything right anymore. They're last place in cloud. They don't have a good search API product to compete with Algolia/Elasticsearch. They can't release new products. Can't build new hardware. The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,... Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions. Another good ex…

The only thing they have going for them is: * They have the most popular operating system in the world * They have the most popular browser in the world * They have the most popular search engine in the world * They have the most popular advertising network in the world * They have the most popular video platform in the world * They have the most popular mapping software in the world * They have the third most popula…

Some devil's advocate:

1) They bought Android - they didn't build it in-house.

2) They bought Double Click - they didn't build it in-house

3) They bought YouTube- they didn't build it in-house

4) Third most popular cloud platform is a bit disingenuous; it's like saying Apple Maps is a top mapping platform: sure, you're kind of right, but the gap at the top is fairly wide.

(You might even make the case that the best parts of Chrome weren't built in-house, but taken from open-source contributions via Chromium, but I'm not sure I quite buy that.)

I think the overarching thesis deserves merit: what was the last in-house built product that became a powerhouse with true sticking power, besides Gmail / Google Apps?