so apparently it's not all rosy in
Google World Google land there's some
reports coming out that Google has been
cutting back on some of the hardware
positions around the development of
certain devices wearing the Google badge
Google hardware and technical program
managers rearranged internally into
other positions specifically the product
people responsible for the pixel book
and pixel tablet Department so of course
we're talking about the pixel slate was
the most recent google tablet that we
saw and yeah the pixel book which I used
somewhat extensively an interesting
product they advertise it a lot of
memory there's a lot of commercials
around that particular product now this
is a different group from the group
responsible for the pixel smartphones
the impression there is that that
particular product may be a bit more
successful possibly more more
competitive the pixel book on the other
hand in the pixel slate kind of maybe
not received as well I know in my
personal experience would be slate for
example kind of a strange device where
do you put the pen there's no will
there's no magnet right is there
anywhere to put the pen didn't really
meet my criteria for something that I
would want to carry the pixel book a
little bit more so I used it for a
period of time but then again it came
with a kind of crazy price tag to match
all the way up to like 2,000 bucks for a
top spec bottle when the Chromebook
positioning in general is all about
inexpensive devices for those that just
want a basic set up something to get
online and so on that was the premise
around Chrome OS at least for a long
time now Google's responsible for other
hardware as well it's important to note
sometimes you forget man they're making
a lot of things right now
beyond the pixel phones themselves
there's also all the smart speakers the
Google home products the the chromecast
and things like this that are kind of
all over your house and you hardly even
notice them anymore so there's a wide
variety of hardware that Google is
involved in then of course there's also
the acquisition or partial acquisition
of HTC in Taiwan
course that move seems to indicate that
Google would tap some of the hardware
capabilities of that particular company
in order to create some of their
products or at least have some sort of
influence over their hardware products
for the most part right now that's
likely filtering into the pixels
smartphone product rather than these
ones that we're talking about here now
the thing is right now this is nothing
but a report this is coming from sources
inside the company and then speaking to
Business Insider so you have to take it
for what it's worth this rearrangement
could be for other reasons it might not
spell the end of the pixel book or pixel
slate but in all honesty looking at
those products the price points
associated with them I would have to say
in my opinion those are probably the
least competitive products that Google
is currently putting their badge on and
even though I have my own healthy
skepticism regarding whether or not this
report is true the pixel book has seen
some heavy discounts in recent weeks
months and so on especially at the top
spec so as we know from past product
experience typically when you're seeing
products discounted significantly it
means one of two things either that
products being liquidated just because
there's not going to be another version
of it and they're trying to get rid of
it or a new version is on the horizon
I'm not sure what's going to happen in
this case I have to say though from my
perspective I wouldn't mind if we didn't
have to see another version of the pixel
slate that was just a bizarre device
that I didn't enjoy using all that much
the pixel book on the other hand maybe
you're a reincarnation in some sort of
more budget-friendly
device maybe then you could make the
case for it but the idea of a close to
$2,000 Chromebook or a $1,500 Chromebook
I just don't know how appealing that is
to the general public because then
you're in Windows and Mac territory and
that's a tough for sales pitch so we'll
have to wait and see what develops of
course time will tell as usual but right
now based on this report it's not
looking so good for Google laptops
Google Chromebooks pixel books and of
course the pixel slate the Google tablet
you'll let me know what you think down
in the comments
do you think these products are dead are
they going night-night or are we gonna
see another version coming up shortly
possibly more competitive I don't know