However, Ivy Ross, Google's vice president of hardware design, says that the store will offer more than that. "This space is designed to be a physical expression of what Google stands for," Ross toldFast Company.
Basically, a camera will follow you everywhere, and into the washroom where custom fixtures will weight and measure your deposit and log it for future reference.
So Google will scan your iris when you walk into the store; they will then track your every move throughout the store, including your gait, how long you stayed at a particular station, what you picked up, how you examined it. They will also sample your DNA and fingerprints. They will record your conversations, analyze your mode, tone, inflection; note whether you were talking to one of their employees, or to your in-store companions. They will use all this data to "customize" your online experience as well as your future visits to the Google Store. They can then connect all this info with your face the next time you get onto Google Meet, or Zoom (because they'll hijack your camera if you use Chrome)."
At least it isn’t a complete knockoff like the Huawei and Samsung stores. Her PR talk consists of ideas that Apple has already said. The natural look and minimalism is just like Apple also. The shelves are a complete knockoff.
I’m not sure how they’re gonna fill the space with customers excited to check out the latest iKnockoff, Wear crap or spyware devices.
I see you know nothing about Huawei Experience stores. Looks like Google is going for the same ideas.
I see all the confused hypocrites have commented then…
I don’t see the point of the store, apart from the me too aspect of it. Very strange for an online company to have a physical store. But knowing Google I won’t be surprised if this project is forgotten about after a year or two and quietly vanishes.
“This space is designed to be a physical expression of what Google stands for”
Presumably then they’ll have someone following you around the store watching everything you do, and then keep following you when you leave the store to see what you do next.
...until I looked slightly longer and saw that it has the same retro-modernist minimalism as Apple, at the structural level. That seating looks straight out of the 1970s brutalist architecture playbook, for example.
Corporations don’t know how to be ACTUALLY pleasant, because the nature of the beast is authoritarian control & conformity; especially when the core business model is to treat people like cattle.
Reading this story you would think it was Google that was billing the store as "anti-Apple" but the didn't. In fact, the spokesperson from Google that is quoted in the Fast Company article didn't mention Apple at all. AI, choice to put the words in quotes without attribution was either intentionally misleading or just really poor writing. I'd guess that the generous thing to assume is the latter as that at least isn't unethical.
It would be great if you could go to a kiosk there, type in your name and it would print out all the info they have on you!
And for a small fee, you could type in anyone's name and download the info.
Like everyone else I thought of the spyware take, but this post was simply brilliant. I can’t top it so I’ll just say well done and “I want to visit that kiosk.”
Apple Stores began with wooden floors but have been replaced by stone due to wear. Laminated counter tops replaced by wood. Zero carpet in Apple stores. Again due to wear. I am interested in revisiting this Google store in a year or so. I expect dust bunnies on the black suspended trim. Worn carpet and wood. On my calendar.
Gee, I don’t recall seeing wood anywhere in Apple stores… except in every Apple store I’ve ever seen. So the “anti-Apple” experience apparently means a friendly veneer slapped on evil.
Where did the supposed "anti-Apple" billing come from? Who said that? It would be entirely out of character for it to come from anyone associated with Google. For several years now Apple and Google have increased their cooperation and more closely aligned their strategies. They wouldn't throw out anything now that could be perceived as a dig at Apple any more than Apple would pointedly call out Google.
if they really are going to historically display their products, I will gladly send them my gen 1 Nest - like some other users experienced in cold climates, a botched background update made the Nest nonfunctional, allowing for major water damage in early 2016 while out of town - what a fun time that is to remember
Apple Stores began with wooden floors but have been replaced by stone due to wear. Laminated counter tops replaced by wood. Zero carpet in Apple stores. Again due to wear. I am interested in revisiting this Google store in a year or so. I expect dust bunnies on the black suspended trim. Worn carpet and wood. On my calendar.
Everything has been carefully planned : no visitors ---> no wear
Must be strange to go into a store where the customer is the company's actual product.
Best one yet, lol! Thanks!
Just had a vision of a store filled with mannequins made up to represent the customers and the product info tags listing the details of everything they've done online along with a behaviour profile. We are showroom dummies!
Comments
I don’t see the point of the store, apart from the me too aspect of it. Very strange for an online company to have a physical store. But knowing Google I won’t be surprised if this project is forgotten about after a year or two and quietly vanishes.
"Anti-Apple," how fucking childish.
Presumably then they’ll have someone following you around the store watching everything you do, and then keep following you when you leave the store to see what you do next.
...until I looked slightly longer and saw that it has the same retro-modernist minimalism as Apple, at the structural level. That seating looks straight out of the 1970s brutalist architecture playbook, for example.
Corporations don’t know how to be ACTUALLY pleasant, because the nature of the beast is authoritarian control & conformity; especially when the core business model is to treat people like cattle.
👍🏽
I am interested in revisiting this Google store in a year or so. I expect dust bunnies on the black suspended trim. Worn carpet and wood. On my calendar.