Google Vision Damned as Second Division Stuff.
Well that seems to be the current view of the critics.
PC Mag comes out with the headline "Is Google's Tech Heading Downhill?" and suggests that Google Video is not the first "clunker" that they have launched recently
And ZDNet weigh in with " judging from first impressions, Blockbuster Video and NetFlix may not have much to worry about yet." And go on to quote a number of critics.
So will Google Video succeed, just because it is Google?
Quote:
There's a growing consensus that Google Inc. has, as one critic recently put it, "lost its magic pixie dust" when it comes to creating cutting-edge features. The latest example of a clunker is Google Video, a video download store that Google unveiled with much fanfare last week, but has since been soundly panned by some of Google's biggest supporters.
Quote:
The Web site adheres to the Google philosophy of less-is-more but lacks any slick design elements that would signal the existence of sexy content such as, say, movies. And, rather than still images from videos to click on for a sample clip, many thumbnail images and preview boxes feature only plain screens with the name of the show--or a blank black box.
- Y! MyWeb
Google != slick design
Google don't do sexy design. Heck in most cases you wouldn't think a designer had been any where near. I am sure they have the resources to make something work but my bet is on Apple in the video download market right now until something better comes along.
I'd like to think Apple will
I'd like to think Apple will trump them on this one...
But by the looks of things, it looks like AOL could be a real competitor too. :)
Time Warner
if AOL can leverage the library of Time Warner material they will have a big advantage.
the enormous size of
the enormous size of google's user base is a huge advantage for this initiative in particular. and wait till they make this viral, i.e. like adsense -- it could be huge, and adsense publishers will have a new revenue stream.
it's all about adsense
goog's video is just another channel for adsense. that's what goog is after, adsense everywhere, on you desktop, video, everywhere.
i'm feeling lackluster
I have a post up on my blog on the same topic. I think the google not what it once was train is gaining speed.
PCMag? ZDNet?
I stopped putting stock in those rags when I stood in my marketing guys cube once upon a time and watched him recite his "competitive" review about our product over the phone and it practically showed up word for word in the damn magazine.
Lost complete faith in them at that moment and haven't looked at one since.
So, take whatever they say with a grain of salt as someone from Microsoft was probably on the other end of their phone reading...
Regarding Google losing steam, I actually kind of respect people that just "put it out there" and let people try things in Beta to see if the idea flies instead of doing it the typical Silicon Valley way of keeping everything under NDA, letting a few select try it, spend a ton of money on marketing and production to see it not sell.
People just don't get it, and maybe Google gets bad press for it, but their live innovation style hasn't been seen since the early 80s.
I find Google Labs refreshing, the rest of you can run around and bash the big boys, enjoy.
Putting it out there is fine
Putting it out there is fine -- if there's something there.
With G Video there's no "there" there. No inventory to speak of except a few old flicks, a handful of defunct television series, nothing much different than can't be found in the three dollar bin at your local discount house. Even if G is just putting it out there to get feedback, well, there has to be something there for users to give feedback on.
My read on this is that Page somehow got the invite to keynote at CES and had to come up with something quick, "Hey, what do we have in the pipeline that I can announce?" Unfortunately, unlike master of the keynote Steve Jobs, he really didn't have anything.