The Google: Just One Example of a Misfire
April 30, 2019
Forget the financial reports for the online ad giant. Sure, the negative reaction may be indicative of Red Bull-fueled MBAs, but the GOOG isn’t going anywhere different or fast. There are signs of trouble in Sillycon Valley in general and at Google in particular. You don’t need me to remind you that the moon shots are still on the launch pads. The management methods are not humming smoothly. The warm and fuzzy love seems to be dissipating, replaced with talk of regulations, fines, and maybe, just maybe jail time for certain behaviors.
I want to highlight one example of the internal processes at the GOOG which may be beep beep beeps of a sensor designed to send a warning to some 23 year old manager. Navigate to “Google Teases a Cheaper Pixel Phone Launch and Confirms Pricey Pixels Still Don’t Sell Very Well.” Here’s the passage I found thought provoking:
We have Google confirming that it’s been having a tough time selling expensive Pixel 3 handsets in the past quarter.
The faithful, it seems, aren’t particularly faithful. The behavior mimics the actions of a certain senior Googler and a marketing professional. The result was difficult for the marketing professional. Now the casual approach of the high school science club is producing mobile phones which deliver unappetizing consequences.
I noted this statement:
Thanks to Google’s just-released earnings report for the first quarter of the year, we now know that Pixel sales during the March 2019 quarter were even weaker than the same period last year.
Then this:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was “hammered” during a different part of the call about the company’s poor Pixel performance.
That’s enough. You get the idea.
I want to point out that the Google is misfiring. Just try to look at older email on the Gmail system. Nifty interface, eh. What about the YouTube function that does not allow a new video to be uploaded because it is already on the system. That’s a clever trick because the video is not yet on the system. And possible ad fraud? Maybe 30 percent of clicks come from bots? And those employees alleging that the company has taken steps to punish them for speaking out about certain company policies?
The numbers add to the woes of the phone unit, the staff management challenge, and the regulatory hammer being lifted over the head of the Googlers.
Yep, the phones are not selling as hoped and, of course, the Android OS is not fragmented.
Stephen E Arnold, April 30, 2019
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