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Google Store - over-priced rubbish or what?

by Bob Crabtree on 14 April 2006, 12:12

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Google Goo

The Google Store - yes, there is now a Google Store - has one area dedicated to software (most of it free) but is largely given over to selling branded goodies (and not-so-goodies), mostly at somewhat inflated prices.

The lengthy list includes Google Goo (at a bargain £9.49); Google lava lamps (a snip at just £41.99, with a Euro>UK plug adaptor adding only a further two squids); the Google Baby Creeper (that's a vest to you and me and it's £5.75); and the oh-so-affordable Google Blinky Pin for £1.49.

Mixed in the mire (or shining like gems in a crown - it's a viewpoint thing, after all) are two particularly interesting items - interesting that is, even if you're not got the hots for buying stuff emblazoned with the Google name. One is in the Office department; the other in a section all of its own.

The first item is the Google USB Mouse Pad, selling at £9.99 without mouse. This is superficially looked to be one of the most practical four-port USB hubs we'd seen. It's intended to take up the deskspace than would otherwise be used by an ordinary mouse mat. But, on closer inspection it's clear that, at 280(w)x227(d)x7(h)mm, it's considerably bigger than most mouse mats.

Google USB Mouse Pad
Also on the downside, it's USB 1.1 only (clearly, the Google people aren't as smart as some people think!). If those two issues don't totally rule it out of contention, do bear in mind the fact that many optical meece (you are using an optical mouse aren't you?) don't need a mouse mat and may not even work well upon one.

The other item - with prices starting at £1,995 (and rising to £4K) is the Google Mini. No, it's not car - not even at those prices - but, instead, a search server that's said to deliver "the same reliable results you expect from Google web search" but on an intranet or public website.

Google Mini

The combined hardware and software solution is claimed to be easy to use and simple to deploy and reckoned to be able to search for up to 300,000 documents and support over 220 different file types. The price is includes one year's "full customer support" along with software updates and replacement coverage.

Oh, and just in case you think we're making any of this up, here are some more pics from the Google Store:


Google lava lamps
Google Baby Creeper

Google Blinky Pin


Life, it's a mystery, ain't it? Disagree? Well, feel free to say so over in the HEXUS.community.

HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by johnny02004976 - Fri 14 Apr 2006 12:32
who actually designed this crap - who the hell wants to walk around in Google jogging bottoms or the Google arm warmer.
Posted by Michael - Fri 14 Apr 2006 12:49
Google Store has been around for years.

The goo is just firebox.com's thinking putty.
Posted by Bob Crabtree - Fri 14 Apr 2006 13:08
Michael
Google Store has been around for years.


So, for that reason, you're saying it's best we don't say anything about it?
Posted by mull - Fri 14 Apr 2006 14:06
“So, for that reason, you're saying it's best we don't say anything about it?”

Well, yes? Plenty of companies sell branded wares for silly money, but we don't get news stories about them, do we? All a bit too much Googlephilia, if you ask me.
Posted by nichomach - Fri 14 Apr 2006 20:18
Actually, I can see the search appliance being a useful addition to a corporate network - there may be better business intelligence tools out there, but the idea of an intranet google isn't a bad one, and given the HUGE scads of data that even a moderate sized business can generate, a usable search engine that can just be dropped into your network could be worth a few K.

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