Chrome OS Retail Demo Mode - Unify Devices!

About a year ago, we were introduced to the Pixelbook Go. It surprised the world with it's beautiful design, comfortable form factor, and strong, but elegant sense of self. The Hush keys were a breath of fresh air after many years of broken MacBook keyboards, and I, for one, was thrilled to try out Android apps on the rich, bright screen.

But the only reason I was excited for those things is because I was already into Google products. I was
already their customer. The year before the Pixelbook Go came out I was ecstatic when I saw the Pixel Slate announced alongside the Pixel 3, and straight up surprised when the Pixelbook shook (and confused) the world alongside the Pixel 2.

Now I use these products every day. I own them. Sometimes multiples (Stadia controllers are just too tempting).

If you told me that 3 years ago I would have been thrilled. In reality, I'm actually more than thrilled! I own my own business (Efficionado Electronics - shameless plug), and I get to interact with this technology on a daily basis. I get to help customers out, discuss their needs in-depth, and use my love of technology to actually benefit somebody - not just burn a hole in my pocket.

In this episode of What Google Should Have Done, I want to discuss the retail marketing strategy they seem to have gone with - or at least the one we are currently stuck with.

Google offers more than one excellent service. Maps, Gmail, Photos, etc, but for being a company that literally exists because of advertising, they seem to flounder around far too often. It seems like they just don't market some of their products at all - they just write the software and let other companies do what they like with it (Wear OS, Chrome OS, Messages/RCS Chat, etc).

This post is a pitch to help them change that, and unify their products in one product demo.

Picture the average retail experience. You walk into a Best Buy, and depending on what product you are interested in looking at, you will look for that company's display, right?

If you want to see the new Apple Watch, where do you go? The Apple table. Where there are also MacBooks, iMacs, iPads, iPhones, Apple Pencils, etc.

Compare that with PC's. If you want to look at PC's, usually there will be a large computer section filled with every kind of computer imaginable - $200 to $2000. What if you need an accessory? Printer, pencil, dongle, hub, monitor, etc? Will any computer work with any monitor? With any printer?

Who knows 🤷‍♂️ You'll have to ask an employee.

The state of the PC market is extremely fragmented - the exact opposite of Apple. Google stands somewhere in between. They have many, MANY solid products like Apple, but continue to exist in a fragmented state like Microsoft.

"What Google needs to do is remember who they are. They aren't a startup. They need to consolidate their services, offerings, and hardware into one space so customers actually know those things exist."

Every day when I walk into Best Buy, I pass at least 3 areas with Google's first party products - the Pixel display, the Chromebook display, and the Home display. There are other connection products in the store as well, but most are just thrown in a corner or getting dusty on a shelf.

Picture this: You walk up to the Google display. At the head of the table you come face to face with a Pixelbook Go in the center, a Stadia controller to your left, and a Pixel 5 to your right. Both the computer and phone are running the same demo mode with the same apps preloaded. This demonstrates continuity, usability across multiple devices, and simplicity.

• Calendar
• Google TV
• YouTube Music
• Messages
• Stadia
• Google Keep
• PowerDirector (more on that later)
• Duo
• Snapseed
• Maps
• Chrome Canvas
• Gmail

Each of these app are on loaded onto the app tray of the computer (see image above for an example). Most customers don't even know half of these apps even exist, much less that you can add them to your computer like a MacBook.

Demo mode would be interactive. Google TV would be displayed on a TV on the other side of the display. The Stadia controller would be paired with the Chromebook, and Destiny 2, Gylt, and Journey to the Savage Planet would be running as playable games. During demo videos, a text message would be sent on the Pixel, and received on the Pixelbook.

Behind the Pixelbook in the center of the table, the perks of buying a Chromebook would be listed.

• 3 months of Stadia pro
• 3 months of YouTube Music
• 3 months of YouTube premium
• $20 off Microsoft Office 365 subscription
• 3 months of Disney+
• etc etc etc

Phone hub (coming to Chromebooks in Chrome 89), Android apps, screen recording, cloud/Drive backup, and Nearby Share all need to be demonstrated. They work so well, and are vastly overlooked.

MacBook as all of their services in the app tray on every computer in the store. Customers need to see and experience a service. The majority of people will not go out of their way to learn something new.

Which brings me to my last point:

PowerDirector.

PowerDirector is a fairly robust video/audio editing application. I have been using them since 2007 or so, and it has only gotten better since then. Most of the time it is actually more robust than iMovie. It's an app that works on Chromebooks and Android phones, and fills a missing feature that Android desperately needs. If I were Google, I would try and make a deal with CyberLink. Give them an incentive to format the app for Chromebooks, and maybe give a free year ($35) with a purchase.

Chromebooks have the power to be full fledged computers, they just come at it from a different perspective. Oftentimes, people don't understand them, so they don't take the risk (again, this is all personal experience in my field).

It's time, Google. Lets unify your retail presence and show the world the true power of cloud services!

- Michael Secret