
Nexus Q launch delayed indefinitely, no longer available for pre-order - llambda
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/07/nexus-q-launch-delayed-indefinitely-no-longer-available-for-pre-order/
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calciphus
I much prefer the headline "Google redesigns Nexus Q, refunds every pre-order
and promises to ship a free one to everyone who preordered" since it seems
more accurate and less like random Google bashing.

Feedback from previewers meant they needed another cycle. That's good, since
the same detractors tend to be the ones who accuse Google of shipping half-
baked products.

~~~
correctifier
The headline is stating the facts, what you are suggesting is stating the
google spin. Its usually a better idea to report the facts rather than the
spin. There is no Google bashing in that headline.

There was a lot of negative feedback to this, and this is probably a good
step. Its also nice to see the goodwill gesture of fulfilling preorders for
free.

~~~
raldi
I think both the real and proposed headlines are stating facts; the question
is which facts to emphasize.

~~~
ralfn
Thats only a question fanboys from both sides keep bringing up.

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hkmurakami
Well, this does seem to fit in well with the "Customer Development" phase of
startups, doesn't it? After all, they demoed a prototype, received (negative)
feedback, and are now iterating the product to make it better tailored to the
customer's needs.

It's easy to snap-criticize, but as a start-up community, maybe HN'ers can
look at this in a positive light.

~~~
KirinDave
For those of us who wanted a Nexus Q for what it was, this is a fantastic
outcome. I still get a Nexus Q but I get my $300 back.

~~~
andyman1080
yeah, all product launches should be done this way!

~~~
KirinDave
No, but certainly all failed launches should end this way.

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te_chris
Just remove the stupid amplifier. Or release one without and one with. God
knows why someone thought including an amplifier was a good idea.

~~~
justinsb
I personally think integrating an amplifier is a good idea, although I don't
think the Q is a great implementation.

I would think that - at a given price point - a combined box would offer
better quality and better feature integration (e.g. volume control, balance
etc). Physically, I also don't want a separate amplifier box - can you explain
what benefits a separate amplifier box offers vs the integrated approach?

~~~
te_chris
It's as much an individual preference thing as anything else, but I much
prefer high-quality discrete components that I've selected myself. Digital
amps have come along a lot recently (see nu-force), but if it were me, I've
already got a really good system that I could be tempted to augment with the
Nexus Q - so that rules out me and others like me. Then there's the college
student argument, but they've probably got a pair of logitech or similar
powered computer speakers or an HT-in-a-box system which are more than enough
for a party in a flat/hall of residence.

At the end of that, I can't really imagine too many people willing to pay all
that money for a box which they still have to go and buy a pair of passive
speakers for - particularly because the people in the market for passive
stereo speakers wouldn't event glance sideways at the nexus q as a serious amp
choice.

~~~
polshaw
Do you know what the amp in the Q was like? I'm not trying to be accusatory- i
just haven't heard sound quality ever mentioned when discussing the Q.

~~~
justinsb
I have one here and haven't actually wired it up yet to speakers, because it
uses banana clip connectors (another slightly odd decision).

My guess is that the sound quality is good, but not excellent. Better than
computer speakers, better than the cheapest bundled units, nowhere near good
enough for audiophiles. But that is only a guess based on what should be
achievable.

With the limited functionality, it's just too much effort to order banana
cables / connectors. I was hoping Google would announce it was now "unlocked"
and they were supporting running more apps (the hardware & software are fully
capable of running general Android apps with the Android SDK tools, but
there's no easy way to interact with the apps). It looks like that's not going
to happen now.

~~~
polshaw
No offence but your 'guess' is not very useful.

e: really, is downvoting appropriate here? I can quite easily speculate that i
don't _think_ the nexus Q sounds that great (and thats what i'd put my money
on), but the electronics exist, and cheap enough, to allow it to potentially
sound fantastic. I was hoping someone might have some first hand experience to
get better than speculation.

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ryanisinallofus
This is something that awes me about Apple every time they do it.

At the press event:

"Great new product..."

"We think it's the best ever iYada, yada yada yada..."

"And you can order it today."

How the hell do they do that?

~~~
novum
Tim Cook.

...and a world-class supply chain, which might best be summarized as: Tim
Cook.

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jewel
I wonder if this means they didn't get enough interest to bother making a
larger run of the device. (I assume they're not giving away millions of dev
units to the existing preorders.)

~~~
KirinDave
They sold out, so presumably they got more interest than they were expecting.

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zacharycohn
This really isn't surprising at all. They basically came out and said "We
wanted to launch this at I/O, but it's not really done. We'll release it to
the general public when it's done."

~~~
vibrunazo
This isn't surprising? When in the history of humanity have you previously
heard of a company abandoning pre-orders, giving out free devices to pre-
orderers, and saying they'll relaunch it when they add more features because
of customer feedback? Name one other example in history.

Isn't surprising at all? This is the most unexpected thing that could possibly
happen. Maybe losing only to all shipped devices turning into flying pigs who
shoots laser from their tails. Other than that, this is the most unexpected
thing that could happen.

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bicknergseng
I'm actually wondering if it's entirely because of Ouya. I'm sure someone at
Google saw that Kickstarter explode and took a look at the trickle of Q
preorders.

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dshep
Is it just me or does the Nexus Q look like the Empire's probe droid from the
Empire Strikes Back?

~~~
KirinDave
It looks nothing like the probe droid from Empire Strikes Back.

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danilocampos
It's the right move.

I've used my Nexus Q for all of 20 minutes since I installed it. Without
Netflix, without Hulu, without streaming from my desktop computer, it _simply
isn't useful_. Yet it's the same cost as my much more capable Xbox 360 and
three times the cost of an Apple TV or Airport Express (with its audio out
port).

Getting a piece of pure consumer electronics into the market is a big move for
Google. Pausing to re-tool the software harms their credibility far, far less
than launching an obvious dud.

Shaking things up in the stagnant living room tech space can only be good news
for consumers. So I want these guys to succeed. A nicely hackable piece of
hardware is a fantastic counterpoint to Apple's polished but locked-down
approach.

But no wine before its time.

~~~
georgemcbay
I don't get why they don't just make a Nexus TV settop box that combines the
full Google TV Android experience with the music sharing stuff the Q was
supposed to do.

Makes more sense than the Q by itself and it would tie nicely into their
Google Fiber tv service for those lucky enough to have it.

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barista
This is a bit embarrassing for Google. They have always released a product
that have stayed in Beta long after it has launched. That probably works for a
software product but not for hardware.

~~~
mladenkovacevic
Why not? Kickstarter trends certainly seem to be showing otherwise

~~~
barista
What credibility a promoter of a failed kickstarter would have if they
launched a useless hardware product that over-promised and under-delived?
Would Google want to be in their shoes? The free dev devices is just a PR
stunt they stole to make them look a little less bad.

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drivebyacct2
I'm guessing it's related to one of the following: Google Fiber, the
Kickstarter Android game consoles (and/or hackers getting games running on the
Nexus Q "dev units"), the high availability of cheap media-pc-on-a-usb-stick
Android devices.

(I presume they really are improving, didn't mean to imply they were running
or anything).

~~~
ConstantineXVI
Simpler: it's more limited than the two existing devices closest to it: the
Sonos and Apple TV (in the context of Apple's ecosystem), and three times the
price of the latter. A third-party API of some kind would go a long way
towards making that price tag much easier to swallow.

~~~
myko
A third party API? Isn't it a full fledged Android device?

~~~
ConstantineXVI
Technically. Out of the box, all it's capable of doing is streaming music and
video from Play and YouTube.

~~~
drivebyacct2
That's kind of my point. I think they saw what "hackers" did with it and saw
the reactions and put two and two together. I think if they tossed the amp and
opened it up as a Google TV like device, it would pair great with Fiber, Nexus
7 and would give them a Google TV device that is similar to their Nexus
devices in terms of their level of control, etc.

~~~
fpgeek
Absolutely. It was hard to see why you'd get a Nexus Q instead of (or even
with), for example, a Vizio Co-Star. If it were "Nexus TV" (with a lower price
point), though, it becomes much more interesting.

