

Google's first retail store - bgurupra
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2011/10/04/inside-googles-first-store-for-chromebooks/

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mirkules
In the late 90's we saw a shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online-only
stores. It seems like you just can't do some things (like hard sells) with
online-only stores. I think this decade is going to find a good balance
between online and b&m stores.

I think it is especially true with things you need to "play with" before you
make a decision to buy - e.g. keyboards (and other input devices), tablets,
phones, watches, etc.

Companies that have or are starting to have b&m presences again: Apple,
Google, Microsoft, SparkFun (yay, Microcenter!), RadioShack (the good-old
RadioShack from the 80s and 90s, not upsell-the-phone RS. Still holding my
breath for this one). Fry's was one of the survivors because it understood the
need for customer-product interaction (imho), even though it did decline in
customer service quality, which is a result of the race to the bottom price
against internet-only stores.

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sdz
"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.

~~~
eli
I _very_ much doubt that the average PC owner would agree that automatic
software updates make their computer better.

~~~
sdz
Okay, I mean _some_ automatic updating software is bad. Adobe's is very
annoying, and Windows Update frequently requires rebooting. But some are great
-- like Chrome! On a Mac, probably the best thing about the app store is that
it consolidates all my software updates (well, not _all_ of them yet) into one
place. So the UX is lacking in some places, but it's getting better, and I
certainly don't agree with quote's implication that automatic updating doesn't
exist on PCs or that software updates don't (in the majority of cases) keep
adding value to a PC over time.

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

~~~
MatthewPhillips
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.

~~~
revorad
_In the UK they openly decry the product's existence._

You must be joking. The British are probably the most adept at quietly
suffering, lest it come across as inappropriate (except when it comes to the
weather). Americans are far more honest and loud-mouthed about problems.

At least from an Indian's perspective.

~~~
arethuza
Does make you wonder why we got the reputation for being _Whinging Poms_ then!

~~~
revorad
Why thank you! I was unaware of that beautiful expression. This explanation is
hilarious -
[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Whinging%20Po...](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Whinging%20Pom)

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Ygor
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?

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cryptoz
I'm sure they will. This is a trial store, and I bet they will see it become
very successful. We know Google is a data-loving company that tests things
quietly, sees what works and what doesn't, and move forward with promising
projects.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Google stores rocking Motorola phones, tablets,
etc popping up over the next few years. They're in no rush, I'm sure: retail
and customer service is _not_ their strong point and they're making plenty of
money without the stores right now. But the time will come.

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shuw
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.

~~~
Shengster
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.

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chugger
hilarious.

“It’s so limited!” the man in his 20′s was saying while sitting in front of
one of the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 devices, and idly playing with the
clickable trackpad. He was saying this to two friends that had crowded around
the device and a staff member who was managing to stay calm while defending
the Chromebook’s existence. “For 350 quid [Brit-speak for pounds] you can get
so much more.”

He looked up at the staff member and asked, hopefully, “Is this going to have
iTunes?”

“No.”

“See what I mean!” he cried.

“There’s Grooveshark,” one of the friends piped up.

“All I’m saying is it’s a computer for solely online purposes. Why? You could
just buy a netbook and install Chrome on it.” He gesticulated at the screen.
“It’s just a shell with Internet.”

