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

arstechnica.com

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

#61

Post by mcintyre1994 »

scarface74 wrote: post #48
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…

How would Android be called a successful strategy? It came out during the Oracle trial that Android has only made Google $38 billion during its entire existence - less than what the iPhone has made Apple during its last quarter.

Does that include all the data from all the Android devices? I don't think Google could get data on eg. when every shop in the world is busy without Android devices sending them that data. So I'm guessing they have a whole bunch of data they can only get from Android devices that's valuable for their advertising business too.

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

#62

Post by lainga »

remir wrote: post #43

In the grand scheme of things, I think it is a good thing that Google, or any other big tech company, isn't dominating every product category. Think about it: Google is dominating search and online advertising, they have the most popular web browser in the world, the most used mobile OS in the world, they have Youtube, Maps, Gmail, Chromebooks. Now imagine if they also ruled messaging, social media, had the most used…

Or for Google: it would just build an antitrust case against themselves.

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

#64

Post by carlosdp »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #33

The way I see it the only good pieces of Google Hardware are the Chromecasts (which are absolutely amazing devices, might be near perfection in terms of simplicity and price) and the Google Home (though that's still 2nd in the smart speaker market). Everything else is either niche (Google WiFi, which I forgot existed even as a techie) or a hanger on (Nest).

Pixelbook is actually really solid.

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

#66

Post by dv_dt »

jpm_sd wrote: post #54
ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

The move comes after the group received pressure to turn Google Hardware into "a real business" from higher-ups at Google/Alphabet -- the squeeze continues unabated :-) Its too bad, since the Pixelbook is pretty nice and with actual investment it could have been something much more than it is, but alas it would not have the margins search advertising does. Back in the 90's I met the head of Xerox's PARC after he had…

As an Xoogler, I can tell you that promising products that "will never be a billion-dollar business" get killed all the time. $100M in projected revenue? Yawn. Kill it.

The odd part is that this doesn't select for billion-dollar businesses, it selects for billion-dollar businesses that can be developed with revenue growth that doesn't pass through $100m for more than x-years. Essentially billion dollar rev with discontinuous growth through lower revenue - this seems unnecessarily constrained for any business that plans to be around for the long haul.

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

#67

Post by defen »

jpm_sd wrote: post #54
ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

The move comes after the group received pressure to turn Google Hardware into "a real business" from higher-ups at Google/Alphabet -- the squeeze continues unabated :-) Its too bad, since the Pixelbook is pretty nice and with actual investment it could have been something much more than it is, but alas it would not have the margins search advertising does. Back in the 90's I met the head of Xerox's PARC after he had…

As an Xoogler, I can tell you that promising products that "will never be a billion-dollar business" get killed all the time. $100M in projected revenue? Yawn. Kill it.

> $100M in projected revenue? Yawn. Kill it.

They should at least tell us what those projects are so someone can pick up the scraps.

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

#68

Post by vondur »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

The move comes after the group received pressure to turn Google Hardware into "a real business" from higher-ups at Google/Alphabet -- the squeeze continues unabated :-) Its too bad, since the Pixelbook is pretty nice and with actual investment it could have been something much more than it is, but alas it would not have the margins search advertising does. Back in the 90's I met the head of Xerox's PARC after he had…

Too bad they never had a fully supported way to install Linxu on it. I vaguely remember reading that google internally used a heavily modified Ubuntu for themselves. (or maybe just some custom repos)

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

#69

Post by sriram_sun »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

The move comes after the group received pressure to turn Google Hardware into "a real business" from higher-ups at Google/Alphabet -- the squeeze continues unabated :-) Its too bad, since the Pixelbook is pretty nice and with actual investment it could have been something much more than it is, but alas it would not have the margins search advertising does. Back in the 90's I met the head of Xerox's PARC after he had…

To me it feels like Engineering really delivered on the Pixelbook. That it didn't sell well was a marketing failure (not the first). So higher ups should take a real hard look in the mirror and work on developing a team that can brand and sell good products.

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

#70

Post by readittwice »

drdeadringer wrote: post #23

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

Google just recently abandoned Android and pushed ChromeOS for tablets. Now this, there is just no continuity with Google.

Unless you absolutely need Android for some reason, I would recommend the iPad.

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