That's too bad, a store dedicated to Android devices (phones and tablets, maybe just nexus devices), chromeOS laptops, glass, TV, whatever that home video sphere thing was, etc. would compete very nicely with Apple stores.

Except Google knows nothing about customer service? Not even a phone number to call, let alone an in-person presence. Also, Google TV was a complete flop, along with their audio streaming device.

schraeds has a point -- with Google's seemingly antisocial corporate culture, would they be able to offer a competitive in-store customer experience?

I agree, Google would have to build out and run retail as a very independent part of the company, "customer service" is just not in their DNA.

I thought the point in time they chose to open them was pretty good. You can sell a mobile phone with video and text. But with something groundbreaking like the Glass this can be harder. Potential customers have nothing they can compare this to. They can watch the glass promo clips, of course but I think experiencing this first hand is way more intense and can be a strong incentive to buy one.

Of course, since there are Retail Stores planned, this whole argument is moot. To bad.

It is very difficult to convince non-technical people to buy technology they cannot see, touch, try and in a general sense, "feel". Because you know, non-technical people do not know what "specs" are.

And they also do not browse the internet like geeks.

If people go to apple.com, they "see" things, or even at amazon.com.

The simple question is: where does my mom have to go to buy a Nexus 7? Certainly not to google.com, not even nexus.com.

Yes, 4.7 million people have bought a nexus 7 (or 4, whatever). The first-gen iPad (which nobody would buy anyway) reached 3 million in 80 days.

People SAW it. At apple.com. And then they saw their friends'.

Ditto the Galaxy. You see: samsung.com, as easy as that. The S-II sold 5 million units in 85 days.

Why couldn't Google just sell their hardware via other - more experienced - companies in the retail world?

I purchased by Dell screen from a store that was not Dell's, Likewise for my Vizio TV, Nintendo Via, HTC phone, etc.

I'm sure we could all live buying Google hardware from a non-Google retailer and so could Google.

(Not saying Google would do that, just saying whether or not they open their our branded retail store is really a non-issue, it should be more about it been available in any bricks'n'mortar store at all)

All the major retailers here in Canada carry the Nexus tablets. Also, a few of the major telecoms carry the Nexus 4 in stores now.

Yeah, so sort of a moot point on whether or not Google has their own retail stores - it shouldn't affected peoples abilities to see and feel real devices before they buy.

I think having Google retail stores would've been great and given them some exposure and credibility with people less familiar with phones. That said, I would have also found it unusual given their push to sell things in the Play Store and the fact that they don't have that much hardware to sell.

I think it would make more sense to work out deals with existing retail stores to have small 'Google' sections much like happens with other brands. They could use that as a chearper/quickly/lower investment way start learning whether or not a real store would be viable.

I think having the retail stores would have forced the support issue very quickly. Not responding to e-mail is one thing, but having an unhappy customer standing in your store is quite another.