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Canada Businesses Cellphones Google

Google Opens Real-World 'Google Shops' in Canada (digitaltrends.com) 43

Posted by EditorDavid from the Google's-earth dept.
Streetlight writes: Google is moving towards a physical presence in Best Buy stores...mimicking what Samsung has done. Hopefully the "stores" are staffed with competent professionals that know what they're selling and maybe provide some help to those who have purchased Google's hardware and software.
Google "is launching a store-within-a-store debuting in North America at select Best Buy locations in Canada," reports TechCrunch, adding that recently "Google also revealed that it would be creating a pop-up Experience Store for users to check out its new wares in New York City."
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Google Opens Real-World 'Google Shops' in Canada More

Google Opens Real-World 'Google Shops' in Canada

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  • Every Google product should come with a blackbox warning: your account with all its data may be terminated arbitrarily, basically whenever a Google executive throws a tantrum. Meanwhile, the company continues to evade taxes.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Or whenever you try to break their terms of service to put money in your own pocket.

      • Is it so bad to evade taxes that the state will use to fund its insane pensions and the hideous prison-judge-cop political complex especially for victimless crimes? Please let me know when the state begins to use money more wisely, and I'll be happy to pay more.

  • I've sometimes wondered why there ain't any Google/Alphabet Stores, the same way that there are Apple Stores or Microsoft Stores in malls. Places where I could take any generic Android phone/tablet, pay them something in return for them to upgrade it to the latest version of Android possible for that device (taking into consideration things like the amount of RAM, storage). I'm talking here about stuff that I can't upgrade via either settings or play store, and very few people are expert enough to

    • they have a better chance of making money here than they have in making it w/ Google Fiber.

      I don't think so. Profits are made by selling commodity products and services to millions of people, not by selling labor intensive services on a one-off basis using highly skilled workers that are making $50+/hr. For what you are describing, you would need to be willing to pay more than the cost of a new phone.

    • The vast number of android phones sold were from someone other than google, so there's no incentive. Same as the manufacturers have no incentive to make a removable battery. That would hurt their sales. Ditto for software upgrades. Ditto for making it easy for you to get root.

      Microsoft and Apple can sell stuff in their own stores because they make money on the OS. Google gives it away. Again, no money there.

      And their premise is stupidly wrong

      A retail presence is something that’s been key to building a premium mobile device customer base that’s sizable and loyal,

      Hint - android itself is not seen as a "premium OS" and never wi

      • Microsoft and Apple can sell stuff in their own stores because they make money on the OS. Google gives it away. Again, no money there.

        Google is not selling an OS, that is true. What they are selling is access to eyeballs to advertisers.

        There is a money incentive in selling Android products, they create a larger market for their advertising space.

        • And they already have plenty of others selling stuff for them. Why bother with unnecessary overhead AND piss off your partners?

  • it should be: google copies apple, trying to woo mouthbreather with bling bling storefronts

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      They don't seem to work very well here in Canada. I'm guessing that within a year you'll see them trying to work out agreements with the established big box stores(Walmart, Canadian Tire, Giant Tiger, Sports Check(or whatever their new name is), Dollar *something* we have two national dollar type stores that sell everything from cheap crap to canned food at heavy discounts), and dumping their storefronts. Apple tried lots of fancy storefronts, didn't work. Now you'll only find their "apple" stuff in most

  • Maps are getting hard to find. Also, can I get my photos printed?

  • Seriously. Best Buy has never been great technically, but they've really gone down hill over the past couple of years in terms of having a good product selection and competent sales staff. That's not to say they don't have sales in which the products they sell are cheap compared to the competition and if you know what you're buying and have price-shopped you can get a deal, but don't expect any kind of sales help or guidance - make sure you know what you're getting and when you compare to other retailers;

    • Re:Probably the WORST place in Canada to test mark (Score:4, Informative)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot.worf@net> on Monday November 21, 2016 @03:21AM (#53330279)

      Seriously. Best Buy has never been great technically, but they've really gone down hill over the past couple of years in terms of having a good product selection and competent sales staff.

      Well, you have to admit that online sales have basically killed them. However, the reason they still are around is because they've reinvented themselves - you entering the store is NOT the primary customer. The stuff on display in the store is the customer.

      When you see DVDs and such for sale, it's because the distributors paid to be there. They paid for the $10 bargain bins. They paid for shelf space. Yes, they pay for shelf space - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo paid for their own aisles in Best Buy, they paid for the layouts, the demo displays, etc. (Yes, it was hilarious when for years the "PS VIta" section was empty, but Sony paid for it, so Best Buy was contractually obliged to keep it ... empty)

      Best Buy is a marketplace where manufacturers all gathered to offer their wares for sale. That's also why selection is down - Best Buy only sells what manufacturers have paid for

      Google owning a "store" inside Best Buy isn't unusual - Apple has done it for years, and until recently, Samsung did too. (It was funny, since the Samsung store took up a huge chunk of the Best Buy I visited all the time, and was always empty. Someone maintains it - they always had the latest product, but there was no one there. Previously, it was a Future Shop and Samsung paid to have a Best Buy employee be the Samsung specialist, but that guy didn't sign on when Best Buy got rid of all the Future Shop stores, and I guess no one signed on or Samsung refused to pay for a specialist). It's funny because right after Remembrance day, the Samsung displays came down and now it's all appliances. I'm guessing the Samsung contract expired/

      • Thank you for your comment - interesting perspective on Best Buy that I will have to keep in mind when somebody suggests I look at a product there.

  • Interesting in that I just had a recent experience along these lines. Around here most of the electronics shops are overrun with maker's reps, and it's a really bad idea. This example might be illustrative.

    The maker was ASUS and the product was a dual-SIM Zenfone Go. Turned out to be useless for my specialized application, though I'm probably going to keep it as a backup for regular use. The ASUS reps were completely clueless about the problems, though it turned out the Huawei and Freetel reps knew exactly

  • What Happened To "Do No Evil"? (Score:3)

    by HannethCom ( 585323 ) on Sunday November 20, 2016 @07:47PM (#53328771)
    Seriously, Best Buy treats their customers like criminals, and their employees worse. In Canada they bought out FutureShop. A few years later they decided to close most FutureShop stores and have a select few stores change to Best Buy. They let the managers know that a package of signs was going to be delivered after hours when everyone else was gone. The managers learned about the their store closing when they opened the package. The employees found out from the media, or the signs when they tried coming to work the next day. As for the stores that were changing to Best Buy, those employees could apply for jobs at the new store.

    • I'm not justifying what they did but the majority of the stores that were closed were right beside a Best Buy store that was built when they moved up into Canada. After the buyout I think the idea was to try and make it look like an electronics area sort of how multiple car dealers will clump together. It still doesn't excuse the terrible treatment towards the staff.

  • You go up to them and ask for a pair of shoes. They go in the back and bring out a bunch of different shoe polish cans, shoeboxes, shoelaces. Then they ask you "Or did you mean shovels?".

  • ... does Google sell?

  • I hope it is exactly like this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOBzWF0Aws

    (College Humor: If Google was a Guy)
  • Good article Thank you http://www.forex-ax.com/ [forex-ax.com]

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