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Logitech Slashes Google TV-Based Revue to $99 as Returns Exceed Sales

Google software sucks until it's been out and tested by paying customers for 3 years and 6 iterations.

Google TV will be acceptable once they get the software beyond Honeycomb.
 
This is what happens when all you do is "write a spec, cut a check" for technical product development and hand it to an outsourcing company. You get what you paid for, nothing else. Knowledge of the development process is never in your corporate culture and any slight change from a specification written a year ago for market adjustment is very expensive. Many of these outsourcing companies make more on maintenance and update fees than original development.
 
I actually laughed at loud just reading the title of this article/thread.


Aviboy97 said:
Um...Mr. Jobs, TiVo is pretty damn successful, as has been for about a decade now. I know cable companies have put a major dent in their sales by offering their own DVR's, TiVo is still doing pretty well.
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Actually TiVo has been one of the worst run companies ever. Having had purchased my first TiVo when they first came out I have kept close tabs on them over the years. They had a huge advantage and blew it. They should have stuck to making software and licensed it. Instead they just have overpriced devices with high monthly fees that almost nobody wants to buy.

The TiVo Software was absolutely amazing when it came out. That is the only reason the company got anywhere. The company lost money every single year for like the first 7 years. The only reason they are even still in business today is because of a patent settlement with Dish Network.

TiVo is by no stretch of the imagination a very successful company. Their market share has shrunk dramatically and their overall installed user base has shrunk dramatically. That means in a growing marketplace they not only didn't keep up, they actually have less customers than they did several years ago.

I always lament what TiVo could have been with competent management, but they have never had it, even though management has turned over several times. They have made bad decision after bad decision. They introduced one of the most revolutionary products in the last 15 years and had AMAZING software engineering, and they completely blew it.

It is actually hard to fail as bad as TiVo has given the position they started in.


Benjy91 said:
Im guessing the same fate will happen to Google Wallet. Infact I hope it does, They want your phone to replace your wallet by 2015 or something. That is something that would scare me.
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As long as there is a place to store my condom I am good with it.
 
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Stating the obvious...
Add TV channels to iTunes, they don´t need many since they already offer all of music & films - but children, news and special channels.
At the same time release a TV say 60" OLED with built in appletv3 and some new features like cloud support++.

On top of that, add say OSX to the TV, and sell it with a keyboard with touchpad.

Problem solved.
 
I find it funny how everyone is wanting Apps on their AppleTV... when Google did it first :

http://code.google.com/tv/android/

The problem is like Steve said, cable/sat providers just give you a box that does streaming/Internet already. No one really bothers buying these set-top boxes, the market is just really small.

Not to mention any failure in streaming my cable set top box has, my Blu-ray player fills nicely with its support for DLNA.
 
Google recently bought SageTV (www.sagetv.com), now that is a great system that is way better than AppleTV. It will be interesting to see what they do with it, I hope they don't just bury it.
 
We have a Revue that we received last December as part of one of the programs that Google ran for potential developers.

The hardware is nice and the unit functions pretty well with YouTube.

But there have been no signficant updates in eight months. Google has ignored this thing and left it to stagnate.

I keep on reading about pending updates, changes, and new applications. Where are they? It doesn't seem like Google thought this through. Too bad.
 
Re: TiVO - they make a good product that most users prefer over whatever lame DVR box their cable company gives them. Their UI is great, and simple enough that most non-techies can pick it up easily (my wife is a TiVo master). The problem is getting them into the hands of people in the first place –*most folks (like, for example, my parents) just accept whatever the cable company rents them and don't see a need to pay for an extra monthly service. They're also hobbled by their price, constant product churn (my TiVoHD is already "old") and poor market penetration.

ATV2: would be great if they would just open up to more content providers (Hulu, Amazon, Pandora, Roku-like channels) and allow more UPnP connectivity like streaming music from a NAS without iTunes. There's so much more a dedicated box like this could be doing, but Apple just doesn't see the need to innovate. No wonder so many peeps jailbreak these things. As it is though, I like using mine for Netflix (best version of their service, IMHO) and we watch Youtube a lot on it. AirPlay is pretty rad.

An actual Apple TV: would be the dumbest move ever. The TV industry is heavily competitive with low margins, and I don't see how they could compete with other established brands unless they offer something truly radical. Like... well I don't know. What's left to innovate with TV sets? They have 3D now, plus links to social networking, Netflix, web stuff etc. Apple is also known for their over-priced display monitors so I don't see them being able to produce anything at a low enough price to compete. I personally wouldn't care about an Apple-branded LCD, even if it did have an ATV3 built in. Show me 1 or 2 cool things it can do that my Sharp Aquos can't and maybe I'll reconsider...

Set top boxes in general: will never truly take off until the general public is willing to radically shift the way they view content on their televisions, and if the content providers can figure out how to integrate streaming, rentals and downloads into their business model. A lot of folks still watch cable TV –*live, no DVR, with commercials – and the cable providers are happy to oblige them. There's no ala carte, and it's no cheaper to rent more than a handful of shows from any service at this point. There are multiple ways to watch a TV show, from different providers with different costs. It's all fractured -- and that's how this market will remain until forces dictate otherwise.
 
ShiftyPig said:
I should probably be more educated on this, but what exactly does Google TV *do*? For $299, it seemed like a glorified on-screen guide to me when I read about it awhile back :confused:
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There was one time I wanted to watch a episode of Dexter Season 5 episode 1 to show my mom, I could have purchased it off iTunes or Amazon Prime, but instead I used the search button on Google TV, found a place that had a episode of Dexter S05E01 playing through flash, full screened it and just watched it. No purchase necessary. Granted the quality was not 720p, my mom didn't really care, just wanted to watch that episode.

It is suppose to be the center of your "entertainment" world, controlling the Cable Box, A/V Receiver, and Television all in one. (Using IR Blasters and the unit itself.)

I do miss the http://www.youtube.com/leanback feature of it, though it was a little strange to use, I think I would have just kept FreddieW's channel streaming the whole time lol.
 
Logitech has ALWAYS made extremely poor electronic multimedia items such as music players and video players.

However, Logitech's keyboards, mice, and webcams (all dating back to the mid 90s) were always incredible and an excellent value...and paved the way for wireless mice/keyboards and webcams. Logitech truly set the bar.

Logitech should either stop manufacturing the music and video player junk or actually make something that works as promised.
 
MacRumors said:
in an interview at the D8 conference in June 2010 that the subsidized set-top boxes used by cable companies have squashed innovation in the television market.
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He hit the nail right on the head. The cable TV companies and television networks are trying to control content and programming. This is totally opposite of Silicon Valley which is to let the consumer control content.

One company that paid dearly for this was da Vinci Time and Space. This early 90's start-up is the grandfather of all independent cable TV boxes. they had an interactive TV set-top box design that was even beyond the 80's Qube network.

It was wonderful, it works, did well in user trails and the big networks refused to deploy it. They couldn't sell it on the mass market and from that, they died. No wonder Apple is treading lightly with Apple TV, they don't want to offend the media gods of Mt. Olympus before their fire is stolen.

Eventually all of this cable TV bandwidth goes to the Internet and television networks become promotional mechanisms over the Internet akin to PR firms.

Then the Starnoff legacy will finally be dead and Farnsworth is avenged!
 
Dustman said:
Why not? Logitech is a fab company with the best customer service experience I have ever had! Their warranty support is unmatched, and its easier to get something like a keyboard replaced in one phone call than a company like Apple. Not saying Apple support isnt great, but not to the same extent as Logitech.

That being said, replacing a 30 dollar keyboard is different than a 3000 laptop, I do understand that.
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Logitech does have excellent customer service. I've only had one issue with one of their products and it was quickly resolved. They even paid for the shipping on the item I returned under warranty.
 
I have a revue, and i like it. At the $99 price-point I'll have one in every room of my house. I also had realistic expectations of it. I expected to do light internet browsing, I expected easy access to netflix, pandora, and amazon vod, and i expected a usb input so that i could play downloaded movies of various file types through. I did not expect to cancel my cable, i did not expect to replace my home computer, and i did not expect it to bring me a beer. I am a little upset that i still haven't seen an app store though.:(
 
re:apple tv still considered a "hobby"

Now i'm starting to respect the aapl view - they are just tinkering with hardware and tv OS - and most importantly carefully observing the tv landscape
Smart they have not gone balls to the wall yet with half baked tv product
Though we do need a "unified field" solution to home theater and computing and mobile devices
Please commeth a "magical" tv product from aapl that "just works" and solves all or problems -
That is all
 
0dev said:
Makes sense. You can easily hack past it but I guess the average customer shouldn't have to...

On the topic of Google TV being built into TVs: IMO it's always better to buy a dumb screen and plug a box with all your streaming stuff into it. That way, when the computery part becomes obsolete, you simply plug in a new box instead of having to upgrade the whole TV.
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I second that. To which I would add: also plug any "additional" systems into that "computery part" rather than into the TV. Then, it sounds a whole lot like an HTPC, except less expensive and simpler for non-techies to use.

The problem is that unless/until consumer electronics can cooperate to be treated as a system rather than as a jumbled collection of components, the WAF of anything with multiple boxes/remotes is going to remain very very low. Logitech actually does a decent job with their (acquired, not developed) Harmony line of remotes, but you still see far too much disconnection between the devices. A central box which could act as steward for the various other bits and pieces one might want to use (optical disk player, cable/satellite box, the camcorder your sister wants to plug in to show a few minutes of video, etc) is what we need. The question is: will it ever get here?

In any case, it isn't here today. Since it isn't here today, any TV set trying to take over some part of that role is doomed to failure. Don't buy a TV that wants to control your home theater system; it will be out of date and useless long before the screen you paid good money for shows its age.
 
toddybody said:
The whole box top smart tv idea is archaic by current standards. The vast majority of Tvs have streaming/sharing services baked in. When apple makes their own TV (with LG/Samsung panels)...then you're cookin' with gas:)
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True... but the secret sauce will be the Apps which I'm sure is coming soon. plus, to get those wonderful features on my Samsung TV, I have to buy a $80 network adaptor (i.e. a wifi card)... so if Apple adds apps and specifically gaming to ATV... done deal. ATV wins.

Actually, licensing their Google TV to companies like Samsung may be their only hope of saving this product. With such horrible sales, it will take a long time for manufactures and retailers to give them another chance with a set-top box.
 
I'm just wondering if Apple is biding their time while making iOS devices so ubiquitous that soon they will be the standard that Jobs said was missing in the bulkanized TV industry...and then just POUNCE into that market with an iOS solution and set it on it's head. :)
 
Popeye206 said:
True... but the secret sauce will be the Apps which I'm sure is coming soon. plus, to get those wonderful features on my Samsung TV, I have to buy a $80 network adaptor (i.e. a wifi card)... so if Apple adds apps and specifically gaming to ATV... done deal. ATV wins.

Actually, licensing their Google TV to companies like Samsung may be their only hope of saving this product. With such horrible sales, it will take a long time for manufactures and retailers to give them another chance with a set-top box.
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Google TV already has "apps" and Google already has a licensing deal with Sony.
The Sony flat screens with built in Google TV are not bad, but the remote flat out sucks.
I can see it staying as a built in content provider/controller like Panasonic has with its Viera televisions.
Stand alone set top boxes have always been poor performers.
They become obsolete too fast.
 
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