Google halts new orders for 16GB Nexus 7, surprised by demand

[petermillard]

"Heavy demand for the 16GB version of the new Nexus 7 tablet has caught Google out after it expected more customers ordering through Google Play to want the 8GB version…

The Guardian understands that Google's planners had thought that buyers on the Google Play store, more than from physical or online retailers, would be more committed to the company's "cloud" concept, and so would have more of their content stored online, rather than wanting to keep it on the device.
But most buyers appear to have noted that the storage on the device cannot be upgraded and decided to get the larger model…"

Hard to believe so many smart people in a smart company could get this so wrong. Or maybe they just believe their own 'Cloud' PR a little too sincerely.

source

[charlesatan]

They were probably figuring that it worked out for Amazon (Kindle Fire 8 GB + Cloud) so it might work for them too.

[SeaKing]

It is hard to be in a room of powerful people who have totally bought the idea that they are selling, and to be a naysayer.

A 2 dollar SD slot would have solved all the supply problems.

[Mujokan]

They should do some marketing on the "cloud" concept.

But really it is more efficient to use local storage. It is so cheap these days, and you don't have all that data whizzing around costing money.

Cloud would be most useful for people with lots of devices. Seems like it is getting so as you're surrounded by screens of various sizes, and you pick up or turn on the one that has the right characteristics for the application you have in mind. It is not unusual to have six screens in your living room at once, I would say. Then you have media and software in the cloud which you can see through any screen.

However, all this costs money. I already am surrounded by more quality entertainment than I can hope to consume. When do we reach a screen-interaction glut? My phone is super cheap but durable. Personally I just don't need the internet when I am out on the street. An SD card turns it into a cool little media player (transcode movies through Handbrake to fit). So I personally have almost no use for cloud computing.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Who would be foolish enough to buy any kind of entertainment device in this day in age with only 8GB of memory? My MP3 player from 2005 had a 20GB HD for God's sake!

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

It is hard to be in a room of powerful people who have totally bought the idea that they are selling, and to be a naysayer.

Why is it so difficult to realize that people have different needs?

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Why is it so difficult to realize that people have different needs?

The need of the company trumps the needs of the customers.

Google is pushing cloud... well, aggressively.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by petermillard

"But most buyers appear to have noted that the storage on the device cannot be upgraded and decided to get the larger model…"

Hard to believe so many smart people in a smart company could get this so wrong. Or maybe they just believe their own 'Cloud' PR a little too sincerely.

source

Google's planners mostly live and work in places with constant free wifi. Google's home, Mountain View, has free wifi city-wide, provided by Google. For people who have 24/7 connectivity, "put it in the cloud" makes perfect sense. In addition to believing their own hype a bit too much, they may just *forget* that most people can't rely on the cloud for anything that's crucially important to them.

3G eats battery and just *isn't available* in some places; we get "you can have your documents anywhere you want--EXCEPT for the underground parking lot next to your job; no checking the meeting schedule before you head in to work."

And the cloud isn't available in a lot of vacation spots, which is where people would like easy access to their documents. Camping with the family for the weekend and want to relax with some tunes? Need to have those tunes in the device itself.

[giedre]

I think a big part of the problem is that the "cloud" is not always available, especially if your device is wifi only.
I've ordered the 16gb version some time ago, and yet this past weekend when I went to Sams there it was! Had I known that, I would have probably bought it there. It is a beautiful tablet from the little I played with it.

[Sil_liS]

I'm curious about what this means. Is it that they stop selling the 16Gb ones until people start looking at the 8Gb ones, or have they run out of stock?

[darksaber35]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I'm curious about what this means. Is it that they stop selling the 16Gb ones until people start looking at the 8Gb ones, or have they run out of stock?

All it means mate is that they have simply RUN OUT of the 16GB dew to very high demand. All the UK retailers for instance are in the process of restocking the 16gb version . So no ,google are not trying to force u to buy the 8gb.

IF you did not pre -order like me and a multitude of others then im sorry but the ones sitting on the garden fence about buying will have to wait for the next batch to arrive.

This is exactly what happened in 2010 with the KINDLE KEYBOARD when it was released in the UK. But back then customers had to wait 8+ weeks before they could buy a kindle if they had not pre-ordered one a month before release.

In 2010 i also pre-ordered a month in advance 26x kindle keyboards and had them delivered the first day after the UK release.

http://www.ebuyer.com/388913-asus-ne...1100550u?hpb=5

***THIS WAS TAKEN FROM the EBUYER.COM= LARGE UK online retailer review section**
Here's the conversation:

I said:
Hi,
I'd like to know if I'll still get my Nexus 7 by this Friday, or if
circumstances have changed.
Thanks

Sarah replied:
Thank you for your response.


We are receiving these in 2 batches. If you placed you order before 9am on
Monday 16th July then we were hoping to receive stock on the 19th July for
delivery on Friday however there has been a delay from Asus so we might
struggle to get them in this week . We are waiting for an update from Asus
but delivery will now likely be delayed till next week.

If the order was submitted after 9am on Monday 16th July then the order
will be fulfilled from stock expected on the 10th August.

Sorry for any concerns caused.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Google's planners mostly live and work in places with constant free wifi. Google's home, Mountain View, has free wifi city-wide, provided by Google. For people who have 24/7 connectivity, "put it in the cloud" makes perfect sense. In addition to believing their own hype a bit too much, they may just *forget* that most people can't rely on the cloud for anything that's crucially important to them.

I think it was lack of marketing creativity is all. They saw B&N and Amazon's success and cloned it.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

They were probably figuring that it worked out for Amazon (Kindle Fire 8 GB + Cloud) so it might work for them too.

The Kindle Fire is primarily geared towards ebooks most of which tend to be pretty small. It also has a curated app store. There's only one model of the Kindle Fire which is the 8GB version (no idea if a 16GB version would sell better). Besides, the target market of the Fire tend to be folks already vested in the Amazon cloud ecosystem.

The Nexus 7 is a full fledged tablet with full access to Google Play and all that it entails. It's got a GPS receiver so the tablet is usable for navigation when combined with apps with offline maps. Given its relatively powerful hardware and open nature, I really don't see why Google wasn't able to predict that people would be using it for large apps and side-loaded content.

Originally Posted by =X=

I think it was lack of marketing creativity is all. They saw B&N and Amazon's success and cloned it.

Except B&N's Nook Tablet and Nook Color both have microSD card slots.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Except B&N's Nook Tablet and Nook Color both have microSD card slots.

Sure but the KFire, that was even more popular and that did not have a card slot.

If you look at all the HW that was bumped up with the Nexus vs Fire, Color it was hardware that made the software perform better (CPU, GPU, RAM, screen res). Google lacks the knowledge of hardware and marketing to consumers. That is also why their launch was so poorly executed.


=X=

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by Ankh

The need of the company trumps the needs of the customers.

Google is pushing cloud... well, aggressively.

Agreed, Google is pushing the cloud. So is Amazon and Apple. If you don't like Google's products you don't have to buy them.