“An extremely reliable source has confirmed to us that Google is in the process of building stand-alone retail stores in the U.S. and hopes to have the first flagship Google Stores open for the holidays in major metropolitan areas,” Seth Weintraub reports for 9to5MGoogle.
“The mission of the stores is to get new Google Nexus, Chrome, and especially upcoming products into the hands of prospective customers,” Weintraub reports. “Google competitors Apple and Microsoft both have retail outlets where customers can try before they buy. ”
Weintraub reports, “Google currently has Chrome Store-within-a-store models in hundreds of Best Buys in the U.S. and 50 PCWorld/Dixon’s in the U.K.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gideon” for the heads up.]
Another imitator, not the innovator.
This seems like pretty clear evidence that Google is about to unleash its own branded phones designed by their flagging Moyorola subsidiary. Samsung will then bolt for its’ own OS. But since Samsung is inept at software and Google is inept at hardware, retail and tech support, this is gonna’ be fun to watch.
RIGHT!!! We NEED to install more BLEACHERS!!!! Rev up the popcorn machine!!! GiT ME ANOTHER 24oz !!! I’m in the BOX seats ¥ Shea Stadium!!!! BEER!!! HERE!!!! AAPL Pie!!! HOT DOGS!!!
I can’t figure out who had the best comment you or HD Boy. Both comments are superb! 🙂
Haha, can’t wait to see how the store look like though … ;p
They’ll look just like a tasteless copy of an Apple store, but the big difference is that when you walk out, a creepy guy will follow you and make a notes aboutf everything you subsequently do.
Hopefully like a 1950s diner. Think about it… It’s the only way to go.
Just as Apple does not build its phones here in North America but rather in Asia, there’s no reason why Samsung could not employ some of the best minds in North America and lots of them to build a totally successful operating system and apps. They just announced something that amounts to very very much just that. Don’t Make the mistake of under estimating Samsung. I myself reach for Apple, but Samsung has made a decent showing and Is a formidable competitor.
Not by showing any software capability whatsoever, but rather by large advertising budget, hardware expertise and channel stuffing.
All google needs are some products
Is search a product?
Youtube?
The crickets have to live somewhere and the overflow in Microsoft Stores will now have somewhere to go.
“Another imitator, not the innovator.”
Yea but they will be imitating Gateway, not Apple.
Apple was successful.
I see Google using every means at its disposal to topple Apple, even if it means departing from its comfort zone of being primarily a software development and web services company.
I see Apple still stumbling in services with a crippled iCloud that still has no Dropbox-like file management system and which remains restricted at 5GB when it would cost them next to nothing to expand that to 20GB with expanded services and functionality.
Ultimately Apple’s inherent stinginess against spending in the intangibles to create future needs and wants will be it Archilles heel.
Why do you constantly write inane things here?
Off the meds again eh BLN?
Why do you constantly write rubbish as if you were a rabid Apple fanboy.
I realise this is a fanboy forum but your anal retentiveness about Apple being right about everything is wearing thin.
I throw Rubber Bands though your Windoze!! And your Mother Smells Like Elderberries!
And your position against jailbreaking is just morbidly stupid.
google may have gotten up to par with fluidly in its os, I’m switching people are immature and talk shit about someone else’s opinions and preferences lol like they’re paid spokesman for apple….i’ve had a iPhone for 5 years but to me they’re starting to fall behind
I’m not sure about your comments with google, but it does amaze me that apple is not giving iCloud more features. I think it was a big mistake to strip down MobileMe to create iCloud. It could have been a simple resources decision and apple all along would bring back the lost features…..but maybe not. Maybe iWeb was not a big success, but apple paid so little attention to it. So much cash in the bank and apple seems to have this attitude that everything must make a ton of money.
I know it’s old hat, but since when did BMW cars stop making high end cars because only a handful of people bought them?
A lot of what you say makes sense. Apple could do so much more and the cost to them would be negligible. Apple needs to make Apple services as sought after as there devices.
BLN has a point. Apple’s social and cloud implementations have not yet met Apple’s standard of excellence. Good efforts, no doubt, but not up to par. And Apple has also failed to appropriately allocate resources in other areas, as well, including iWork, iLife, and Mac Pro computers, to name a few.
Apple is gradually learning how to spread its growing resources to evolve multiple product lines in parallel while simultaneously pursing cutting edge R&D. Not everything that Apple touches glitters like gold, but I am a reasonably patient person and will stick with Apple as long as Apple maintains the corporate focus on:
* Creating insanely great products – saying no to “good” in the dogged search for “excellent”
* Focusing on user experience
* Simplification of complexity
* Product quality
In return, Apple will maintain a growing number of loyal fans and the profits will continue to flow. Win-win.
Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of being an internet company?
The battleground for hearts and minds is shifting to the web and intangibles. All people are seeing is Apple’s absence in this area and continual stumbles in implementing web services as an ancillary to hardware.
Ya think? 99.9% of people I know couldn’t give a flying fuck about the cloud, ancilliary web services, or any of that other stuff. You’re a typical tech nerd who imagines that the rest of humanity thinks like you do. Newsflash time: they couldn’t give a shit. Get used to it.
If Apple is serious about gaining share in the corporate market, they are going to have to make file management a priority because you want to get work done on your iPhone and iPad and don’t want to view it as a consumer toy any more.
Adding file management in a Dropbox-like secure environment with enough GB to satisfy the corporate market can only enable its push into the enterprise. You don’t want to think one dimensional when pushing cloud services.
Why did you slip so soundlessly from speaking for everyone to just speaking about corporate use?
Well he has a tendency to come out swearing like a sailor if he disagrees with you and I wanted to avoid a mud slinging fist fight..
However, it is my belief the Apple needs to expand iCloud to encompass services that benefit both the consumer and corporate customers.
I respect the way you handled that, BLN. And as for the points you are making about enterprise, Apple apparently has no road map and is playing it by ear; it does look like they are distracted from that theater by the boatloads of cash coming to port from far-flung consumer markets. Tim Cook’s Peter Pan-like homilies about great user experience, best products on the planet, love my job, etc. are starting to wear thin and the money crowd never bought it to begin with. These are real worries to professionals who expect solid support from platform vendors.
Yours is the one comment that I value most highly on this forum. And a couple of others of course who shall remain nameless but they know who they are.
They and you remain the most rational commentators on this forum. And you’ll note that I usually only respond to them as well because I can have a conversation without being barracked from all sides. I don’t mind the barracking, it’s the holier than thou know it all attitude that I can’t stand.
But really there are a number of very decent people here on this forum and I take my hat off to all of them. Thank you hannahjs for your kind comment.
And if I may answer the question you raised with respect to Apple and/or Tim Cook’s attitude towards corporate customers.
I think it’s a shame that Apple doesn’t do more to mine its corporate customers. Many people I know are fighting tooth and nail to bring their iPhones and iPads into a corporate environment, but they are not helped by a lingering perception by corporate IT that Apple makes toys and not serious corporate tools.
I don’t know whether that is due to Steve Jobs’ longstanding disdain for the corporate market. However, I think that came about due to the refusal of corporate IT to accept the Mac into its fold, choosing instead to support Windows. This time round, Apple has built up an enormous groundswell of support for corporate deployment by its loyal customers who start off as consumers but who insist on bringing their iOS devices to the office.
The unfortunate thing here I feel is Apple is letting this goodwill wither on the vine because of its obsessive secrecy. I don’t mean that they should announce a roadmap for iPhone releases, but at least they should do more to promote the Mac Pro and/or OS X Server within a corporate environment. They have $137 billion sitting in the bank burning a hole in their pocket. Setting up a corporate service department would be a snap of the fingers for Tim Cook.
There is this problem with iOS 6.1 devices not talking properly with MS Exchange Server, a situation that has persisted since December of last year. I think the dilatory response that Apple is making in this area shows its lack of focus when it comes to addressing corporate needs.
+1
For the record, I agree with you that iCloud does not cut it for the collaborative workplace, be it either corporate or educational. Consider the ‘i’ in iCloud to be short for “individual” Hopefully Apple can grow that to fCloud (family) where several iTunes accounts roll up into one, and wCloud (workgroups) where documents (non-purchased things) can be easily shared.
And who knows: Tim Cook came from Compaq, so there’s a greater chance he “gets” enterprises idiosyncrasies than Steve was willing to.
Why would Apple be serious about gaining share in the corporate market? How’s all that market share working for Dell? The only reason Microsoft still makes money in enterprise is their ridiculous licensing and product stratification. Consumers aren’t locked into Microsoft by legacy applications, procedures, and systems. Many companies use Microsoft applications because they have designed procedures around Office and can’t think of, or don’t want to go to the time and expense of doing it differently, even if it would be more efficient.
I’m not even going to try to draw a diagram for you because you’re saying that Apple’s mobile penetration in the corporate market is the same Dell’s PC market share when it’s clearly not.
I don’t know what argument you’re trying to make except pursue a strategy of sit on your hands & do nothing, which is going to take you how far?
Use that noggin of yours to think for a second.
SJ was always leery of becoming dependent on enterprise. Enterprise demands thin margins and generic features. They’re not interested in new functionality. They want to dictate features and they require backward compatibility. To cater to enterprise is to let your customers dictate your designs and pricing. SJ never cared to get involved in all of that. I don’t think anything has changed.
Who said anything about “catering” to enterprise? Apple has a wedge in enterprise now through no effort of their own, with the BYOD programs in more and more firms. Apple is studying this, and may produce a few cards to play down the line. The cards will be jokers, wild in some versions of poker. Expect surprise.
To many firms, going mobile means seriously considering Apple in procurement decisions. IT departments will adapt—they’ll still have power, but no longer of the draconian variety. They still get to tell people what to do, but they can retire the rack and the thumbscrews.
Obviously the Apple option is not about their replacing Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, or IBM by manufacturing low-cost servers and deploying massive support services but in providing the very best client solutions in terms of their iOS/hardware combo with better security, reliability, and joy than the other guys.
SJ is dead. He’s not running the company anymore. It’s a new day. It’s time to move on. Quit living in the past. This is the present. It’s not 2012 or 2010 or 2008 etc. Things change. If you don’t change you’ll be left behind, like RIMM. There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Tim.
What you meant to say was: I don’t know the facts but I think that web services are not important to many people. I am envious of your technical ability and don’t comprehend most of it myself. I have to go to the bathroom now.
What he meant to say was what he said 😉
lol
Wells said and exactly right !
+1
If tech nerds do care about this ancilliary web stuff and the average users look to tech nerds for advice, more voices will be urging the average user toward the tech nerds’ favorite companies. If only .1% will use these services, Apple would be buying some nerdy good will at a low cost.
So did GOOG drop today like AAPL did when their retail store push was just beginning? Why, no, it didn’t!
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-05-20/commentary-sorry-steve-heres-why-apple-stores-wont-work
Google is going to win if Apple doesn’t arise from its iRest.
And if Google wins, we all become thralls, commoditized commercial objects to be bought, sold, traded, and herded. I suppose not being physically tortured makes up for that.
Thank god they don’t have a good desktop OS. As far as they could get with Android, they’ll always be crippled by not having a very refined desktop OS like OSX or (ugh) Windows that ties all their devices together.
They haven’t got a history of developing desktop operating systems, and it’s too late in the game to start now.
They did get a lucky break by having a mole in Apple’s board so they got an early jump in developing a mobile OS, which MS is struggling to close the gap, but may be too late to the game.
Exactly
There is no “win” or “lose” in an expanding market like mobile, just profits. Apple has plenty. Google really doesn’t, but they’re hoping they’ll eventually come. Let’s see how they fare competing against their own Android customers with their Nexus product line. Nothing will drive Samsung away faster than Google’s duplicity. The rest of us should just make popcorn and enjoy the show.
Win or lose in mobile equates to winning or losing customers and subscribers. If you lose too many customers or are not gaining new ones fast enough, you lose the network effect of mass & volume. This is important from the standpoint of attracting developers to develop new apps for your ecosystem.
Also if you fall below a certain mass of customers, you enter into a death spiral from which you may never recover. So maintaining market share is important, if for that alone.
Slight disagreement here. I’m an iOS app developer, and what’s far more important to me than iOS market share is the two sided coin of development effort and return on investment. I keep my eyes open, but until it’s important for my brand to be available on Android as well as iOS I am not seeing the effort worth the return.
I don’t disagree with you that the basic premise of app development is first and foremost ROI. I think every app developer looks at that before everything else. And right now, the platform that pays the most to developers is iOS which paid out $8 billion to developers in the last quarter. I don’t have the figure for Android to hand but I would hazard a guess that it would not amount to more than $1 billion, if that.
Therefore, the returns a developer can expect from the App Store outstrip the returns he can expect from the Play Store. However, mass and volume dictate how consumers perceive a brand. If a brand is seen to be weak or looks like a falling star, then people will desert that brand for other brands.
I just don’t want the OS X vs Windows debacle to recur in the mobile wars and I think a balance between market share and profitability is an important criterion to look at.
Do you know why Google’s share price is worth $300 more than Apple’s? Do you think it’s because of Apple’s lack of profits? Hardly. Apart from its search engine, Google continues to branch out in all sorts of services. Google is using aggressive tactics just like Amazon is. Branching out like an octopus. Not just standing pat. Wall Street sees this as an attractive quality and so do investors. Google is on the rise, up another $5. Apple is on the wane, down another $6. The gap is getting bigger by the day.
As an Apple shareholder, I have to watch these weaker companies taking bigger nibbles out of Apple when Apple should easily be able to put a stop to it. Although Apple continues to make profits, perceptions of weakness and Apple’s pacifistic attitude are ruining Apple’s share value. I honestly feel that with Apple’s cash, it shouldn’t be taking just a defensive posture. Apple should be dealing death blows.
Up 100 points in the last 30 days. And that ain’t hay! I have made some good money during this time in GOOG. I won’t use Google search. And I think they’re sneaky bastards. But just like Willy Sutton when asked why do you rob banks? “Because that’s where the money is”. And that’s where it is. I used some of my money from selling Apple at $700 last September. Has worked out nicely. It’s just not the time to be in AAPL right now. But don’t give up. It’s coming. Never invest with your heart. Take the emotion out of investing. Never fall in love with a company’s stock. It’s your money. It’s what matters. Keep your eyes on the road and your hands up on the wheel.
Nice Doors reference!
The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near
Lord! I can’t wait to see the Google Store Design and the employees uniform. 😉
Ooh ooh
I want to buy a chrome!!
Google is not Microsoft! Yes they had Eric the mole. And are evil. But not stupid. First rule of battle, never under estimate your enemy. I have wondered for a long time why Google didn’t do this? Seems to me that they are late to the party. They could have done this several years ago easily. I can’t believe they waited this long. I guess they wanted to get their chrome goodies up to speed first? This matters. They won’t run this operation like that bunch of dumb shits from Microsoft mismanages their stores. Let’s face it, Microsoft has no cool factor. Clearly the same thing cannot be said for Google. Lotsa folks out there using Android,Chrome,Chrome hardware and phones running Android. This isn’t Kansas. Pretty clear why they bought Motorola Mobile. To all who will ridicule Google opening their own stores, let’s give it one year. Remember, everyone said Steve Jobs and Apple were crazy to do the same thing. They might just do well? Time will tell.
No, Google aren’t stupid. But like Microsoft they are historically a software company, and they’ll have to choose carefully what they’ll sell in their stores. Their Nexus product line is pretty obvious. But right now that’s very few items. Do they also sell their competitors products that also run Android? If so, how will the sales staff differentiate the products? If not, why would their larger customers settle for second class status going forward? Yes, Android is open and their customers can modify it as they like. But that just muddies the waters further. Google will want to provide an Apple-like experience, including timely updates that they can’t provide now because their customers and carriers get in the way. Google stores will make one thing very clear to end users–Android fragmentation. And in the end, that will not serve Google well. And it might cost them their most successful customer, Samsung. Samsung has multiple mobile OSes in house that they can deploy in the near future. Google seems to be only pushing them to do so.
Good points. I simply believe that Google will be smarter than your scenario. If you and I can figure out those things so can Google. Google throws money at many things. Some of those things do well and others fail miserably. But all tech companies do the same thing. You just won’t know when Apple fails because they are of course so secretive. Google doesn’t seem to worry about what other people think. A different approach to innovation I suppose? And Google seems to try in many non-tech areas as opposed to someone like Apple or Microsoft. But I believe that Google will have a good plan in place here. Because this is very important to them. Only time will tell if they are able to execute.
If Google opens stores in premium malls or opens large stores like Apple, I don’t see the ROI for this strategy. Chromebooks and GOOG tablets are low margin products. Moto phones are not in big demand. GOOG would have to sell 10 Chromebooks to get the gross margin dollars that Apple gets for a MBP 15″. Apple has huge GM on Apple accessories. None of Google’s accessories are proprietary.
Apple’s stubborn refusal to offer a file management system in iOS is not an oversight, but an egotistical stance that trumpets that their view is their way or the highway. Well, time will tell whether Apple goes down the highway with this one. It’s a major reason I’ve not bought an iPad – even though I’ve bought innumerable MBPs, MBAs, iMacs, iPods and iPhone.
I’m an Apple fan, but Apple’s arrogance on issues like this makes me hope they go down on this one.
Physical stores are for physical hadware, and Google branded hardware would only fill a kiosk. Maybe they will use the extra space to sell jellybeans and gingerbread.
Don’t forget ice cream sandwiches in the frozen food aisle.
Or Google will have a really super long ‘genius-like’ bar that wraps around the store, mins the few shelves needed for their wares and staff it with Google geniuses.
Finally people wll have a place to get all their questions and complaints answered!
Google: I don’t do business with a company that sells every bit of data they can get on me…period!
A physical shop to sell advertising? That’s the only thing Google is selling.
Sorry, that is not true.
Google is selling YOU and all the data about you that you give them.
And what will you do in the stores? Go around searching for stuff.
Funny! And probably true. Ads will be all over the place. Didn’t they develop something called Google Glasses that project a virtual heads-up display using near-field communications? The stores will be like Times Square at Christmas or a hall of mirrors—they can’t help themselves.
As you walk in for the first time the Orwellian cameras will add you to the grand database with a facial recognition algorithm; your in-store experiences will be tailored at first to your known web-browsing history, and augmented during future visits following a detailed analysis of your body language, speech patterns, interaction with employees and other valuable personal data.
Kiss privacy goodbye.
Like the main character being assaulted by ads in the mall in “Minority Report”. Yeah, I can’t wait for that crap. I’ll be staying out of any Google retail stores.
I don’t know what they hope to sell in them anyway. Google device users are notoriously cheap and not averse to free stuff, even if they have to steal it. Sounds like a retail nightmare.
I’m thinking of getting one of those Mission: Impossible full-face masks so I can look like somebody else when I enter the store and start searching for anti-topic de jour!
The only thing that a google store will sell is the keys to all the personal data they can find on you with their stuff…
Yawn.
I hear their partnering with LensCrafters. Google glasses.
Shhhhhhh rumor….
Wow. * THEY’RE
Wow! I hadn’t thought of that. I hope Google hasn’t thought of it, either. If they get you in an examination chair, surreptitiously placed scanners could capture the contents of your purse or wallet. That would exponentially increase the depth of their metrical evaluation of you. They could command kingly prices in their advertiser auctions.
Should such a scheme fall afoul of the law, Google would already have made billions of dollars and could easily pay any court-ordered fines and still come out ahead. And they would know you.
Good! I’m switching to a Galaxy Note 2, im a ex “fanboy” who actually checked out a Note 2 and is what I’ve wanting! Had the iPhone for 5 year, same ol same! still can’t customize my phone! I’m good with my iPad being simple not my phone! Hopefully these stores are as useful as the apple stores
insert> it after and lol
Google glasses worn over time will degrade the user’s vision. They will never be widely released due to the inevitable lawsuits.
Google glasses, think of Steve Martin’s invention in the movie ‘The Jerk’!
LOL the Optigrab™
What is it that I need of any real value to purchase from any Google Store regardless of its location on this planet?
Out of curiosity, some will enter a Google store because they dimly realize Google are famous for something or other. The unwary will face the same danger as Hansel and Gretel, only with a Kafkaesque twist. Instead of a beckoning Gingerbread house, it will be a Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, or Jellybean house, or (as predicted by knowledgeable analysts) a Kaopectate effusion.
Google’s version of doom has more of a fairy-tale quality than any of the others, except that in their version the witches win.
“Uh hi! Do you sell copies of your search engine here? No? But you’re handing out free copies of your Chrome browser on CD. That’s kewl, but no thanks. So, um…. Oh I know! Do you sell anti-virus for my Android phone? I could really use that.”
*smirk*
Google Bar will be a search bar…
Hey …which of your answers were most relevant?
“Sir, did you mean…’How can I unfreeze Android Ice Cream Sandwich’? Say ‘melt my ice cream sandwich’ if you’d like us to thaw out your frozen treat in our microwave.
Hey will you help me Find My Friend? Oh, there he is in stall three in the Food Court men’s room. Thanks Google Bar!
Great, another copycat store. 1st Microsoft, then Samsung and now Google. That chrome book isn’t even a computer, it’s just an internet terminal. Why would you want that? That’s the problem with Google, they are trying to do to many things at once and are not good at any of them except there web search engine. Apple is trying to stay focused, contrary to the STUPID Anal-ists Apple is trying to make better products, not just a lot of mediocre products.
Microshaft Store, ShamScam Store, Goggles Store…
Do ANY of these clone stores EVER make a profit? Aren’t they all just marketing loss leader showcases?
Apple Stores make a substantial profit, engender customer delight, free people from the dark side, provide training and repair, AND work as successful marketing showcases of progressive computing products. Did I mention that they’re profitable?
[Oops, I didn’t mean to say that.]
SPEND Microsoft, Samsung, Google! SPEND SPEND SPEND!!!
I can see it now… “How do I unbrick my Droid X? I was rooting it and I messed up… Can you help me GooglExpert?”
I want to see the customer support for the “open” platform.
And I want to see people complaining about accessory prices when theyre over 5 dollars.
What Google doesnt get is that the Android crowd is very cheap, they’ll come in and play with stuff and will go out of their GStores empty handed.
Googluck with that!
Shoplifting might become a problem…
One area where Apple and Google are competing now is education. My district is adopting Google Apps and will purchase some Chrome books next year, so that’s a loss for Microsoft and Novell, whose GroupWise we’re dumping. Meanwhile, iPads are also being added incrementally, and I can tell you that managing them in a school setting is as challenging as getting a gym full of kids to be quiet. But of all the tech players we work with, only Apple and Microsoft are making any money. We use bland, base HP computer boxes, so no margins there. And we’re updating them less frequently because, well, what do we need super powered workstations for? Word? Firefox? Google isn’t making money from us. Google for Education doesn’t have any advertising – for now – and Google provides services, support and customization and storage for a tiny fee. I will say, Apple is dropping the ball by not offering iWork in the cloud, complete with mail and social networking. They could have the hearts and minds of school districts everywhere.