
Google Has ‘No Plans’ To Launch Retail Stores - derpenxyne
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/26/andy-rubin-google-has-no-plans-to-launch-retail-stores/
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bane
That's too bad, a store dedicated to Android devices (phones and tablets,
maybe just nexus devices), chromeOS laptops, glass, TV, whatever that home
video sphere thing was, etc. would compete very nicely with Apple stores.

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stephengillie
schraeds has a point -- with Google's seemingly antisocial corporate culture,
would they be able to offer a competitive in-store customer experience?

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bane
I agree, Google would have to build out and run retail as a very independent
part of the company, "customer service" is just not in their DNA.

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schabernakk
I thought the point in time they chose to open them was pretty good. You can
sell a mobile phone with video and text. But with something groundbreaking
like the Glass this can be harder. Potential customers have nothing they can
compare this to. They can watch the glass promo clips, of course but I think
experiencing this first hand is way more intense and can be a strong incentive
to buy one.

Of course, since there are Retail Stores planned, this whole argument is moot.
To bad.

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pfortuny
It is very difficult to convince non-technical people to buy technology they
cannot see, touch, try and in a general sense, "feel". Because you know, non-
technical people do not know what "specs" are.

And they also do not browse the internet like geeks.

If people go to apple.com, they "see" things, or even at amazon.com.

The simple question is: where does my mom have to go to buy a Nexus 7?
Certainly not to google.com, not even nexus.com.

Yes, 4.7 million people have bought a nexus 7 (or 4, whatever). The first-gen
iPad (which nobody would buy anyway) reached 3 million in 80 days.

People SAW it. At apple.com. And then they saw their friends'.

Ditto the Galaxy. You see: samsung.com, as easy as that. The S-II sold 5
million units in 85 days.

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itcmcgrath
Why couldn't Google just sell their hardware via other - more experienced -
companies in the retail world?

I purchased by Dell screen from a store that was not Dell's, Likewise for my
Vizio TV, Nintendo Via, HTC phone, etc.

I'm sure we could all live buying Google hardware from a non-Google retailer
and so could Google.

(Not saying Google would do that, just saying whether or not they open their
our branded retail store is really a non-issue, it should be more about it
been available in any bricks'n'mortar store at all)

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acchow
All the major retailers here in Canada carry the Nexus tablets. Also, a few of
the major telecoms carry the Nexus 4 in stores now.

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itcmcgrath
Yeah, so sort of a moot point on whether or not Google has their own retail
stores - it shouldn't affected peoples abilities to see and feel real devices
before they buy.

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merqumab
I think having Google retail stores would've been great and given them some
exposure and credibility with people less familiar with phones. That said, I
would have also found it unusual given their push to sell things in the Play
Store and the fact that they don't have _that_ much hardware to sell.

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itcmcgrath
I think it would make more sense to work out deals with existing retail stores
to have small 'Google' sections much like happens with other brands. They
could use that as a chearper/quickly/lower investment way start learning
whether or not a real store would be viable.

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protomyth
I think having the retail stores would have forced the support issue very
quickly. Not responding to e-mail is one thing, but having an unhappy customer
standing in your store is quite another.

