Google hardware – Pixelated

New devices do not address the overwhelming issue.

• Google’s new devices keep pace with the specification of its competitors and beat them when it came to software and AI performance but is unlikely to much more than offer token competition.

Pixel.

• Google changing tack here and being far more aggressive on price in a bid to drive some badly needed volume.
• The Pixel 5 has mid-range specifications and 5G and is starting at $699 which comes with 3-month subscriptions to most of Google’s services as a sweetener.
• This is roughly half what Apple’s top of the range flagship is likely to cost.
• Google is also updating the Pixel XL 4A to 5G and this is starting at $499 making it one of the most reasonable 5G phones available.
• Where Google lacks in pure hardware specifications it makes up in software and AI functionality.
• New features in Google Duo allow screen sharing and video sharing for the first time on a smartphone.
• Google has also extended its AI-driven video manipulation to improve night mode and this will be backwards compatible with older devices through a software upgrade.
• It also extended its video stabilisation function with three new modes which again will also be extended to older devices.
• The most perplexing thing was Google’s promise of 3 years of Android and security updates.
• I have a 5-year-old Samsung that still gets updates so I am not sure what Google is saying here as it would seem to be threatening to cut the user off after three years in order to force a hardware upgrade.

Google TV.

• The new and improved Chromecast (and a big improvement it is) bringing Google into line with AppleTV, Fire TV and so on.
• The device now has a remote with shortcut buttons to Netflix and other popular services.
• It costs $49.99 and should support 4K making it one of the most cost-effective ways to turn a dumb TV into a smart TV available.

Nest Audio.

• This is essentially the latest version of the Google Home which now is home under the Nest brand.
• The focus has been on improving the audio with bold claims being made about how the audio has improved while the price remains unchanged at $99.

Take-Home Message

• This was a more-of-same launch from Google.
• The aim is to compete on price but then differentiate with superior services underpinned by Google’s best in class AI.
• This is the right strategy, but something is getting lost in the execution.
• This is obvious because Pixel is a rounding error in device shipments and Google is still failing to take the fight to Amazon in the smart home.
• I think a good hard look is required at sales and marketing as this is where I suspect things are going astray.
• Google is also not a hardware company and this effort is vestigial to the ecosystem behemoth that tolerates it meaning that it gets very little priority across the company as a whole.
• I still think a closer co-operation with Samsung (see here) is the best way to go.