Johnswilson1
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@AdamGering @nathanielmott I don't see a gamer necessarily buying a Surface just for Smartglass.
@kjtocool Google's problem is that they're overly diverse when it comes to investments in other areas -- some of which you mentioned -- yet singularly focused on how they actually make money: search. So why not get rid of the fluff that isn't really going anywhere? Why not focus in better on what could be profitable 1-3 years from now, 4-7 years, and getting rid of everything else?
Whoa. With this kind of writing, I need to come back more often. Kudos.
@ak47 The next thing they could do is have Passbook integration and the theater could just scan that. That would prove you were there with that particular phone just as much as a check-in would.
@matt_pierson My fault. Someone mentioned they four but they meant they would have to see that many to break even not that there was a limit.
But I still think people aren't likely to give their phones to friends for hours at a time to go watch movies. Plus the limit is one movie per day. So in theory these guys just don't want you going over 30 movies in a month, whether your friends or you are watching.
@matt_pierson @Sbliemaster Sure you could give the phone to a friend, but then you wouldn't be getting the benefit of the service and you'd also be impacting your limit of four movies in one month. It doesn't matter to them who is going - you or your friend - all that matters is that the four movie limit is enforced and you're paying the monthly bill.
@charbax @brettnordquist I think you're forgetting something. 1) Google isn't the only company using web ads. 2) This discussion wasn't about Google's web ad business, which is actually quite good, it's about their mobile ad business and revenue and income derived from Android handsets; 3) Apple will never have to compete with $50 crap phones in China because Apple doesn't do low margin business. Never have, never will. 4) That the iPhone makes up 50% of revenues isn't new or catastrophic. The iPod, the iPhone's precursor, also made up a disproportionate share of Apple revenues and profits. But guess what? They got stronger. They still control 80% of the music player market, and their experience there helped them launch the iPhone. So, no, your argument maybe getting wordier but it's not getting any better.
@charbax @brettnordquist So...now you're saying just by virtue of my being on the internet Google is making money off of me? No matter what web services I use? I think you can make a far better argument than this. Or at least I hope so.
@charbax @brettnordquist So now you're including in that mix people who don't even have Android phones? And then assuming that by having an Android phone consumers definitely use Google services more? You're taking a lot of logical leaps you don't need to take. Start with mobile ad revenue from Android and go from there.
@charbax @brettnordquist Really? And where are you getting this figure from? That's what, $40 per device? I've never seen any figures showing that. On the contrary, numbers I've seen through court documents that were released show a figure closer to what Manjoo stated, which is around $2-3 per Android device.
@Juan Jimenez @FarhadManjoo @Oletros That doesn't mean much. Android tablets also account for abut 30% of tablets sold yet make up about 2-5% of tablet web traffic. So clearly sales don't correlate to web usage or therefore web-based ad revenue.
@nikolay @Estel77 Actually people weren't just fine w/ Google Maps before. That's an absurd assertion. 1) It was rarely updated; 2) it didn't even support landscape mode; 3) it lacked turn by turn and voice guidance. So really the only thing it did well was transit, and that's done very well by a myriad of apps in the App Store. So the fascination with Google Maps really comes back to Android users (who have a full-featured version of Google Maps and love it for good reason) or people who solely used Google Maps for transit. And yes, I know Apple pretty much controlled the Google Maps for iOS. I'm not assigning blame for how bad it was. I'm more so pointing out it was far from perfect.
@lucian_armasu And how many iOS users were using Google Maps? I don't have a percentage but the New York Times reported 12 mil daily users. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the active number of iOS devices. And on Android it's even lower, around 6 mil. So Manjoo is exactly right that Google benefits more from iOS users than they're own. And with a standalone app, Google would be able to sell ads to iOS users as well.
@JoeSC I disagree. I use my iPad for the far majority of things. I really only pick up my Air for sites that haven't been optimized for Chrome and require Firefox or Explorer, or when I'm doing long-form writing, or when I prefer to read on a bigger screen. All of those instances are the minority. And I love my AIr. I wish there was a need for me to be on it more.
I see where you're going with this and somewhat agree on the premise. But your specific example leaves much to be desired. I highly doubt folks bolted from iOS over notifications. And majority of people who buy phones know they'll probably be stuck with it for two years until contract is satisfied. Yes, they could always sell and get something else on Craigslist or whatever. But most people don't do that. With that being said, a lot goes into which phone to buy, what features are very valuable, and what they can live with. (After all nothing is perfect.) As for the Surface, the keyboard isn't a killer functionality because it's pretty much being replicated by third party vendors on iOS already. Seriously. Look at what Logitech has done. I like the MagSafe type connector they're using and hope Apple unifies the use of MagSafe throughout their line. The biggest challenge for the Surface RT and Pro will be 1) price - will consumers be willing to pay a $200 premium over, say, the iPad 3 which will be discounted (in all likelihood) to $399 come next March; 2) value for performance - if surface pro is $999 like The Next Web is reporting then it'll be in Air category. Consumers will have to decide if that's worth it.
@WordTipping Yeah, I think your main point was definitely a good one.
@WordTipping I agree with that first part. Second part, not so much. When Apple contracts with Foxxconn it does under the impression that they won't be competing with Foxxconn products. Microsoft won't be doing the same with the Surface bc they'll be licensing Windows with the express purpose of competing against tablet OEMs.
@WordTipping That's semantics. Apple contracting with Foxxconn to make iPads isn't the same as Microsoft working with HTC, Samsung, Dell and others. Foxxconn doesn't sell at retail and probably never will.
@bernardmoon Why do people assume Google never intended to make money? Because they said so? You do realize they're a for-profit company that has to answer to shareholders? Android was never charity. Instead it was a backdoor into creating lucrative revenue through mobile advertising.