Google's first retail store • Hacker News Board

Re: Google's first retail store

#21

Post by adhipg » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:20 PM UTC

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #4

adhipg wrote: post #2

I like the confidence that the employees had to get the stopwatches out for the 8 second test.

The difference between US and UK culture is jarring. In the U.S. if we don't like something we just shrug our shoulders and walk away. In the UK they openly decry the product's existence. And their politicians love to verbally spar. Here politicians passive-aggressively don't clap during state of the union speeches. I love it.

On the contrary I am often reminded by the Pink Floyd line 'Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way' when I think about the culture in the UK.

From what I've seen people in the UK try to be very 'proper' about everything - often when they don't even mean it. That's what causes all the differences in culture between the UK and other European countries like Germany.

Although, this is the Government that promoted the slogan 'Keep calm and carry on'[1] many many years ago.

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On

Re: Google's first retail store

#22

Post by biot » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:36 PM UTC

Ygor wrote: post #11

I don't get it. Why is Google so careful with opening more stores like this? It seems pretty clear that such stores are extremely good at selling products to your average customer. Why not open dozens, even hundreds of them, all over the world?

  > It seems pretty clear that such stores are extremely
  > good at selling products to your average customer.

That's the hypothesis; Google is now testing it to see if it's true.

Re: Google's first retail store

#23

Post by bostonpete » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

adhipg wrote: post #2

I like the confidence that the employees had to get the stopwatches out for the 8 second test.

I'm guessing they're pretty confident in the number if they've printed it on their shirts.

Re: Google's first retail store

#24

Post by shuw » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:35 PM UTC

Chromebook's claim to fame (or primary selling point) of 8 second boot-up is very gimmicky to me. People never hard power off their tablets and never need to for most notebooks. If they are, that's a usability issue they're having with the OS, not a limitation.

A fairer comparison is time to resume from standby. But then, Chromebook will have to push their other selling points.

Re: Google's first retail store

#25

Post by ConstantineXVI » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:54 PM UTC

sdz wrote: post #8

"One selling point the staff are pushing is that unlike traditional PC’s, Chromebooks get better over time with automatic software updates." That seems a bit disingenuous. PCs get better over time with software updates as well.

Chrome OS has a far more rapid development cycle vs. Windows and OSX (feature/performance releases come with weeks instead of months/years); and the updates themselves require next to zero thought. Worst case scenario: even if you never shut it off and ignore the update blip, you'll run out of battery eventually (at which point you're updated when you plug it back in).

Re: Google's first retail store

#26

Post by Shengster » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 8:27 PM UTC

shuw wrote: post #24

Chromebook's claim to fame (or primary selling point) of 8 second boot-up is very gimmicky to me. People never hard power off their tablets and never need to for most notebooks. If they are, that's a usability issue they're having with the OS, not a limitation. A fairer comparison is time to resume from standby. But then, Chromebook will have to push their other selling points.

I agree with you as well. Most people put their machines on standby or hibernate, eliminating most of Chromebook's competitive advantage.

Honestly, I don't see Chromebooks becoming very successful mainly due to price. For the same price of a Chromebook, one can buy a notebook that is much more powerful.

Instead I think Google should sell (or even more ambitiously give out) Chromebooks at a loss to have people use their cloud-based services. (Much like what Amazon is doing with their Kindle Fire). Unfortunately, if they were going to do this, they would have a long time ago.

I think the Chromebook will eventually go the way of the Zune. Late to market and eventually cancelled.

Re: Google's first retail store

#27

Post by eneveu » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 11:49 PM UTC

sdz wrote: post #8

"One selling point the staff are pushing is that unlike traditional PC’s, Chromebooks get better over time with automatic software updates." That seems a bit disingenuous. PCs get better over time with software updates as well.

The Chromebook has another advantage related to automatic software updates: by focusing on web apps, it ensures most apps are up-to-date (since web apps, due to the distribution medium, always use the latest version).