Why I think Google pixel will fail

Google has announced Pixel phones and few more products at a special event last week. While I was impressed with the capabilities of machine learning and AI, I was not impressed with the overall phone. While some are saying that Google finally has an answer to Apple’s dominant ecosystem, I think that the Pixel lineup will be another one of those flops that Google is used to producing in past few years. Here are a few reasons why I think Pixel phone will fail and eventually canceled.

Expensive line up

There is only one brand that had success in selling price Android phones, Samsung.  Its not walk in the park for Samsung.  The S and note lineup bring lot of innovation to the table every year.  S7 and edge were truly spectacular and the only phones that are really worth above 40k. There is no other android maker with success in 35k+ segment.  The reason for this is that the Chinese brands are able to replicate most of the features of top end phones and price their phones under 25k. To be frank,  a 17k le max 2 can easily match the Google pixel and it looks better.

The entry of Chinese brands reduced the average selling price of Android to such a level that you either match their pricing or create something unique. Do note that the hardware is not what differentiates Pixel/XL. Its the AI that is part of Android 7.1. There is no use in buying the Pixel as a standalone phone. The phone is meant to be part of Google’s new digital home ecosystem. This means that you need to have the Google Home device, Google Wi-Fi, a Chromecast. The total price goes up once you add the entire lineup.

Google tendency to kill off product lines after short time 

Google created lot of products in past five years and killed most of them. This applies to software as well as hardware. In the end, all that matters to Google is ‘does it bring money through ads and also help us tap into end users life?’. If the Pixel fails at this simple objective, it will be throw off like it never existed. The reason why Apple has been so successful in recent years is that they bring in changes slowly. Get customers used to a feature and then bring in new changes that bring full utilization to the feature. Google should’ve stayed with Nexus lineup for now. Google should’ve allowed the millions of Android users get used to the AI, make them get into the digital room evolution before launching a hyper expensive phone.

Half baked ecosystem 

Android is half baked at best. The application quality is above average at best. Unlike Apple that has tightly integrated devices and operating systems, Google has a widely used smartphone OS and a barely there bare-bone OS named Chrome OS. Though Google is trying to work on integrating these two, it still cannot match the power and flexibility of a OS X + iOS. Even Microsoft is in a better position with Windows 10 (one OS for all devices). Even if Google creates a feature that excels, Android OEMs take ages to incorporate the feature and by that time, Apple and Microsoft would’ve moved to next best thing.

People are still not comfortable to use voice commands or chat with bots

Google Pixel, Home are all about voice commands and chatting with bots. This is something that end users have not yet embraced. Not every one is comfortable shouting commands to phone while they are outside or in office cubicle. The market in USA has saturated and the growth is in emerging poewers and in developing countries where English is not the prefered language.  One big problem with AI and bots is, they are not yet made for regional languages.

Google has released some of these bots and chat apps for iOS users. This (to an extent) negates the need for iOS users to move to Pixel. Take the AI part off and there is absolutely nothing in this phone to justify the 57k-80k price tag.

Apple premium experience feels lot more polished and rich 

Take a look at the new iPhone 7 series. Even though the 7 models are almost identical to 6 and 6S models, they still look gorgeous. The same applied to most iPhones and macs. Apple creates industrial designs that does not age as fast as Android and PC models. There are very few brands that can get to such high level of design (HTC, Sony, Samsung). One look at the Google Pixel and you know that the phone looks absolutely out of place and the asymmetric design is ugly. Android is still not as polished as iOS. In India, one can buy iPhone 7 by paying just 3k more than what you pay for Pixel phone but it looks more premium, is considered a status symbol.

Apple has an established support structure in all major markets across the globe. In India, its a known fact that Apple customer care is like a benchmark. It is going to be a hard nut for Google tok create ‘perfect support structure’. You do not want to pay 60k for a phone end up with mediocre support.