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Logitech Acknowledges Google TV Set-Top Box a 'Big Mistake'

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Google made waves last year for its introduction of Google TV, new software intended to integrate the Internet with television content and revolutionize the TV-watching experience. One of the key hardware launch partners for Google TV was Logitech, which offered its "Revue" set-top box for Google TV at a price of $299.

logitech_revue.jpg



Google TV failed to catch on with consumers, and by July of this year Logitech had slashed pricing on the Revue box to just $99 and taken an accounting charge on the loss related to the below-cost sale price. The lack of consumer interest in Google TV reminded observers of comments made by Steve Jobs just after Google's announcement of its Google TV project.
Subsidized set-top boxes have squashed innovation because no one wants to pay for separate boxes...ask TiVo, Roku, us, Google in a few months. The set-top box needs to be torn up and redesigned to get people things they way they want them. And there's no go-to-market strategy for that. With the iPhone, and now the iPad, we could partner with carriers, but television is very balkanized...everything is local.
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Just two weeks ago, Google announced a significant update to the Google TV platform, but Logitech apparently has no interest in being burned twice, as The Verge reports that the company has sworn off any further Google TV work and acknowledged that the original effort was "a big mistake". According to Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca:
To make the long story short, we thought we had invented [sliced] bread and we just made them. [We made a commitment to] just build a lot because we expected everybody to line up for Christmas and buy these boxes [at] $300 [...] that was a big mistake.
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De Luca notes that Logitech "executed a full scale launch with a beta product", a decision that resulted in a $100 million loss for the company when consumer demand failed to meet expectations. De Luca admits that Google TV may yet have success in the market but that any such developments are some time away and will not involve Logitech.

Google is of course only one of the companies seeking to change the way users interact with and experience television. Apple's current Apple TV set-top box primarily serves to integrate iTunes Store content with television sets, but the company is said to be working on a revolutionary new Siri-based interface for an actual television set product that could launch by 2013. And Sony has also acknowledged its efforts in the field, seeing the need to step up and address Apple's success so far with its iTunes ecosystem as well its future television plans.

Article Link: Logitech Acknowledges Google TV Set-Top Box a 'Big Mistake'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/11/logitech-acknowledges-google-tv-set-top-box-a-big-mistake/
Jobs said that people don't want to spend $300 on set top boxes and that Google (well, Logitech too) will learn that Christmas. (2010) Again, he showed he was right and the success of the $99 Apple TV shows people don't want to go above a certain amount for set top boxes.
 
The Logitech Revue failed the "mom test": if you can't get your mother to set up a product with minimal effort on your part (the geek), it will never be a significant player in the market.

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theBigD23 said:
Jobs said that people don't want to spend $300 on set top boxes and that Google (well, Logitech too) will learn that Christmas. (2010) Again, he showed he was right and the success of the $99 Apple TV shows people don't want to go above a certain amount for set top boxes.
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The problem isn't even cost, as the price drop to $99 should have fixed that problem. It's too freaking complex. And IR boasters? Good lord imagine all the problems that could go wrong there.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Steve Jobs clearly understood this class of product at a deeper level than Google or Logitech. The idea of working from the user experience to the technology and not the other way around is a philosophy Jobs imbued Apple with and has helped it avoid the type of failure that so far has been Google TV.
 
S.Jobs:

The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box, and that pretty much undermines innovation in the sector. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask Google in a few months. The only way this is going to change is if you start from scratch, tear up the box, redesign and get it to the consumer in a way that they want to buy it. But right now, there’s no way to do that….The TV is going to lose until there’s a viable go-to-market strategy.
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They shoved these out the door with Android crap on them and a $300 price tag. An Apple TV for $99 was way better. Heck, even Rokus are nice, and they can be had for only $59! Why would anyone bother with the Google TV?
 
Logitech got burned hard! :eek:

Unless Google are able to take advantage of any links with Motorola and their STB distribution, I can't imagine it taking off.

On another note:
I really want a Siri powered TV. Why do you ask?

When the wife is watching her normal crap, I want to be able to interject and say "Siri, turn this **** off." for it to then do what I command. :cool:
 
justinfreid said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Steve Jobs clearly understood this class of product at a deeper level than Google or Logitech. The idea of working from the user experience to the technology and not the other way around is a philosophy Jobs imbued Apple with and has helped it avoid the type of failure that so far has been Google TV.
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So true.

Get someone who specializes in making a killing from vertically-integrated solutions to do it and you'll have the best chance of seeing something that will capture consumer interest, and even delight them in ways that product couldn't before.
 
Honestly I think TV as it is today is crap. I have no need to watch TV or shows or anything like that, and I know that many people feel the same. The internet for me satisfies all my previously TV-related needs. I can watch anything online without commercials in much higher quality, I can watch DVDs on my computer, and the only drawback is the small screen. There is no need for a TV, only a big screen that mirrors your computer's video output.

I think TV today is like the radio: many people still use it, but there's no more innovation going into it, it's bad quality, repetitive and meant only for the average person and no one else, and there's no need to integrate it with the internet, it's easier and better to just replace it with the internet.
 
Nobody wants another box on their tv. Google or Apple should come up with technology that is integrated into the television set. An Apple television set for example. Plenty of money to be made with downloading movies right to your tv instead of having to buy an Apple TV box.

That said, I'm not sure that's where I'd like to see Apple spend their resources. Better to improve their other line of products, perhaps.
 
Why another google fail post and yet yesterday two good posts with apple in trouble were deleted?

Is this GoogRumors?
 
After fireworks night last week we were all sat around the projector chucking up our photos and videos via Apple TV. It was amazing, nothing short of it! It's the first time I've used it in that sort of situation, but it really was incredible and we had a lot of fun as people randomly interposed what we were watching with various other items of media from their iPhones ;)

Apple TV works because it's cheap and it extends the Apple ecosystem to the television. It's something different and unique. It bridges a gap.

I honestly have no idea what Google's proposition was about. It baffled me from the start.
 
dagamer34 said:
The Logitech Revue failed the "mom test": if you can't get your mother to set up a product with minimal effort on your part (the geek), it will never be a significant player in the market.

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The problem isn't even cost, as the price drop to $99 should have fixed that problem. It's too freaking complex. And IR boasters? Good lord imagine all the problems that could go wrong there.
Click to expand...

You're 100% right. He even admitted that it's a Beta product AND too complex. I used it, minus the crashing, and it was very confusing to use.
 
Steve gave Google the best advice. Focus on a few projects/products and do not spread yourself too thin. Google is trying to dip their hands in everything and it has resulted in some hits but also some big misses. They seem to be all over the place trying to compete in too many product categories.
 
What De Luca was *really* thinking.

MacRumors said:
De Luca notes that Logitech "executed a full scale launch with a beta product", a decision that resulted in a $100 million loss for the company when consumer demand failed to meet expectations.
Click to expand...

What De Luca was *really* thinking:

Only Apple can change the TV industry. They'll crush Google TV. And Sony is doomed.
 
Damn, I was hoping for the obligatory "I've cracked it" quote we've been seeing in every other article, TV-related or not. I feel slightly let down.
 
vartanarsen said:
guys, Im confused..Isnt Apple TV a "Settop Box" too?

Please enlighten me..
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SJ commented on that, said it would go nowhere, called it a "hobby". But also, it doesn't receive TV from the current channels. IE, cable and satellite companies. That makes 2 current levels of STBs, those integrated with providers and the networks, and those that simply can use internet sources like Hulu+.

Subsidized set-top boxes have squashed innovation because no one wants to pay for separate boxes...ask TiVo, Roku, us, Google in a few months. The set-top box needs to be torn up and redesigned to get people things they way they want them. And there's no go-to-market strategy for that. With the iPhone, and now the iPad, we could partner with carriers, but television is very balkanized...everything is local.
Click to expand...
Tivo made one stride in the last 2 months, fulfilling everything but the price. Premier Elite should be a dagger to cable companies everywhere, but they price it at $1000 or $500 + $20/month (on top of cable fees). The price will probably kill it all by itself.
 
Steve Jobs is perfectly correct about how TV companies foist their own set-top box ecosystems on customers.

It's because it is they who have the deals with the broadcasters and content providers.

In the UK, Sky controls a big part of the pay TV market and have for many years been supplying their own locked down set top boxes.

Admittedly though they are very good technically with a reasonably good EPG and have HD and PVR facilities etc. And for many people that's good - if you're prepared to pay for the privilege.

But, as with all these boxes if you want to stream your own user-generated content, or say, an integrated DVD/BD player then forget it!

So what happens in a typical house is you end up switching between set top boxes, devices and remote controls to do anything.

Throw in a 5.1 surround system with an AV receiver and that's another remote control.

Therefore, your TV, DVD/BD player, Sky box, 2nd gen Apple TV and AV receiver all have separate remote controls.

That's 5 remote controls - so you then you have go out and buy a universal remote of some sort like a Logitech Harmony or something.

This is all driving us crazy because the user experience is poor - we keep having to juggle all these devices and switching inputs on our TVs.

So, how Apple is going to solve these problems I do not know...
 
I like the apple TV and all, but to me it's severely limited. You can only play movies that are in an apple format, and since most of my movies are not in one of apples formats, an apple TV is useless to me. I already have pandora, and netflix on my blu-ray, and oddly enough, it has dnla capability, so I can watch any movie I want from my computer wirelessly. The only thing I'm missing is iTunes on my TV, and the ability to remote control it with my iPhone.
 
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