“Logitech International has dropped out of the Google TV revolution,” Jessica Guynn reports for The Los Angeles Times. “Logitech Chief Executive Guerrino De Luca is writing off Google TV as a ‘big mistake.’ He said Logitech will stop producing its Revue set-top boxes, which enable televisions to receive Internet video.”
“At an event for analysts and investors Thursday, De Luca called last year’s launch of Google TV ‘a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature,'” according to technology blog the Verge,” Guynn reports. “De Luca said the company would bring ‘closure’ to the ‘saga,’ which included steep price cuts to the Logitech Revue set-top boxes, by letting the inventory run out this quarter.”
Guynn reports, “He said there are no plans to introduce another box to replace Revue. Further, he predicted that the ‘grandchild of Google TV’ might succeed, but not the current product.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What did we say when Logitech announced their Google TV Revue back in October 2010?
“Steve Jobs is laughing his ass off right about now. This thing is far, far too complicated for 99% of the market and the prices are insane – in a bad way. It has a keyboard, an effing keyboard! At first, we thought it was all a joke. Then we began to feel sorry for the people at Logitech who wasted their time on this thing. Of course, some percentage of well-heeled geeks will get all excited. Too bad for Google and Logitech there are nowhere near enough of them to matter. Not even remotely close. Seriously, the vast majority of the world can barely switch inputs on their TVs to see the cable box, DVD player, etc. Frankly, we’re a bit stunned at the cluelessness of it all. This thing is DOA.” – MacDailyNews Take, October 6, 2010
Logitech could’ve saved themselves massive pain had they simply listened to us.
If any company is to reinvent TV, it will be Apple, not Google.
Siri scoffs at ridiculous button-festooned remotes.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “silverhawk1” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Google TV review: ‘Apple wouldn’t dare to put out the crap that Google does’ – October 29, 2011
Logitech losses highlight Google TV flop; CEO exits, Revue price slashed to $99 – July 28, 2011
Logitech suspends production of Google TV ‘Revue’ boxen – December 27, 2010
Google TV not ready for primetime; faces delays amid poor reviews – December 20, 2010
Amazon’s list of the best-selling electronics: Apple TV is #13; Google TV is #430 – December 3, 2010
DOA: Logitech’s Google TV box to retail for $299 – October 6, 2010
Steve Jobs’s last great gadget: the all-purpose ‘iTV’ – November 6, 2011
Apple’s ‘iTV,’ Steve Jobs’s last project, may transform home entertainment – November 3, 2011
Apple gets Siri-ous about TV – October 29, 2011
Siri key to rumored Apple television to be announced by late 2012, say sources – October 27, 2011
Steve Jobs’ told biographer: ‘I finally cracked’ the secret to an easy-to-use integrated HDTV – October 21, 2011
First Adobe.
Next up, Google.
Apple. Capping companies to their knees at will.
Much as I enjoy the metaphor…
I have to point out that these companies are SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. It doesn’t require any aggression from Apple for these clown companies to meet their well-deserved fates. Get ready Samsung.
Don’t worry. They’ll come out with another version once they see what Apple does… just like Google always does.
Everybody’s light years behind Siri. What’s Google gonna call theirs? Sori?
heh.
Very good one.
Damn funny that was.
Iris.
Mirrored, not, er.. photocopied. Etc.
+1
I like this….
It might be more acceptable to we Apple fans if it was named “sorry…”
I only know one person that purchased the google tv and they like it. They also like the android phone but prefer a macbook over windows. A lil screwed up but whatever.
Even if it HAD been good, they would have eventually failed because GOOGLE will probably start adding their crap to Moto set-top boxes, thereby shrinking Logitech’s or anyone else’s market share.
Google calls theirs Iris. Siri backward.
Another “I told you so” from Beyond re Google TV.
Actually Google’s not behind Iris, that’s some 3rd party developer who made a big fuss that they’d “duplicated” Siri in 8 hours, and that used to claim Siri wasn’t revolutionary, that Siri was just “code glue” for existing technologies.
Thing is, after 8 hours what they had was pre-alpha quality. It didn’t integrate with the phone’s OS, i.e. it was a separate app. People tried it and deleted it right away. A month later it’s still pre-beta. So much for “code glue”, and don’t even want to guess how badly their servers would handle millions of iPhone 4S users trying to access it at the same time.
What, what, WHAT were they thinking? The creator was a stupid biatch!
Fun fact: Guerrino De Luca was Phil Schiller’s predecessor as Apple’s VP of Worldwide Marketing, departing the day after Steve was named iCEO.
+1 Informative.
ISTR Schiller came to Apple from Macromedia. Is this correct?
From Wikiepedia
Schiller has over twenty four years of experience in product marketing and
management, including seventeen[1] years at Apple in various capacities. His previous experience also included positions at Macromedia (Vice President of Product Marketing), FirePower Systems, Inc. (Director of Product Marketing), Nolan, Norton & Company and Massachusetts General Hospital (Programmer and Systems Analyst).
did the genius in Consumer Reports put Google TV as a ‘Recommend Buy’ ?
just wondering
🙂
“This thing is far, far too complicated …. we’re a bit stunned at the cluelessness of it all. This thing is DOA”
google TV is what the Android phone would have been if the ‘mole’ hadn’t access to Apple’s secrets…
“Logitech Revue set-top boxes, by letting the inventory run out this quarter.”
In other words, continue to sell the “mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature” to unsuspecting customers. I’m glad I’m not one of there customers.
‘Hate Thy Customer’, a great way to tank your company.
Notice the dire straights of the companies behind the RIAA and MPAA. Hate your customer at your peril.
Any Logitech investors out there? It’s much greener here on the otherside with Apple
“…Google TV revolution…”
WTF? The only thing revolutionary is the stupidity.
I have the Logitech Revue, and I like it. It works very well for what it is. It gives me WiFi to my TV, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon Movies, Pandora, Chrome, and Netflix.
I also like the keyboard that comes with it. Web surfing on my TV would be impractical with the Apple TV remote. Most of the people poking fun at the “stupid” keyboard haven’t used it.
And to all that say “who wants to surf the web on their TV?” haven’t tried it. It’s very nice to see a web link on a show and instantly go there, among other things. It’s like the people saying “who needs to have data and voice at the same time?”. Usually the folks that have never had it.
I am all for competition in business:
Competition is the father of innovation.
But when the offerings are BLATANT CRAP compared to the established leader, that’s NOT COMPETITION, that’s just plain STUPID.
I think we need another economic depression to knock off all the biznizz bozos in the technology community. Nice FAIL Google and Logitech.