Logitech drops Revue, says early Google TV intro a 'mistake'

[cunobelinus]

>
> castalla;669190 Wrote:
>> ....
>> Thank goodness they've dumped the Revue and can re-focus on audio
>> solutions.
>
Like the Transporter, you mean?

Logitech Sheevaplug or equivalent, all server software installed, but beefed up so that it is no longer "not exactly beta" in their eyes, no messing about included, sold as a package with iPeng. That might work. But something tells me they'll never get round to it and are more likely to drop the whole idea, including LMS.

[nicolas75]

Well, he blames Google because Logitech STUPIDLY relied almost exclusively on GoogleTV for the Revues success. BIG MISTAKE!

Here is the entire lineup of Apps and services available for the Revue:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/apps
Video calling, Netflix, Napster, Pandora, CNBC, Twitter, and GoogleTV (as it were )

That's it and is a complete joke in the streaming box community. For comparison go to the Roku website where you have a choice of four different boxes ($49 to $99) and have TONS of Apps and services, many completely free.

Having one good hardware box is fine, but limiting that one box to such a limited feature set of services is simply laughable, if not sad.

I still think the main problem is the software.
Some people often say most problems comes from what is sitting between the chair and the keyboard.
They are completely right, but not in the way they think about it.
Most problems come from what is sitting between the chair and the keyboard.
It is the developper who cannot understand than such a device MUST WORK FLUENTLY for non tech nor geek people.
I already knew some hifi shops who choose Sonos over Squeezebox.
I recently spoke with another one I know well (I bought a lot of my hifi stuff in his shop, and haven't noticed he sells Sonos as well).

He confirmed he sells Sonos because
- it is easy to setup for non tech people
- he can support customers easily for most basic problems (he is not a computer guy)
- If needed, Sonos support is good, fast, and really fix most problems

There is no way he can achieve this and make money selling squeezeboxes.
He would have too many problems with all those "stupid customers" sitting between the chair and the keyboard ...

One thing Logitech CEO got right about the software is
"not complete and not tuned to what the consumers want at the living room"

[nicolas75]

Funny (well sort of ...) how he blames google ...
He should try to use himself softwares develloped by the company he is in charge of.
And wonder if he really cared about software management, like he should have done.

Well, reading the full transcript

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3069...all-transcript

What he says is not so stupid, and the original link is not very faithfull regarding what he actually said.

[pippin]

Both are equally to blame. Google for messing up the product and Logitech for blindly following Google without having the faintest understanding what the product is about.

[nicolas75]

Both are equally to blame. Google for messing up the product and Logitech for blindly following Google without having the faintest understanding what the product is about.

Not sure about that.
When a customer tries a revue, he first goes trough LMS.
This cannot work for normal people, no matter the quality of Google side.
As far as I know, Google was not involved whatsoever in LMS development.

[Mnyb]

LMS was not there fo the initail revue , it was there for 2 weeks so it had noting to do with it.

They managed on thier own,

the streaming video markets is it own can of worms, it really lacks basic support by the content providers *they* are cluless too, neither revue or apple TV is a big hit where I live, content providers can't aggre on such simple things as getting people in different countries to see the same TV show released at the same time. they cling on to some old modell where things are syndicated and sold of in a time staggerd pattern to some other party that hold rigths for certain times and regions ugh :-/

Example HBO I channel I can't get have done some good series in thier days, now they just aired " game of thrones " .

This serie is not avaible in any form where I live no channel has it no dvd box , it is however avaible using some well known p2p tech

So when a local network finally gets it and purchase the rigths for it , nobody will ever watch it on thier channel, everyone had it on thier harddrive since 8 months back ?

[pippin]

Revue originally had absolutely nothing to do with LMS, LMS was just a late addition to help the product when the Google TV service didn't come by.

The Google TV (not Revue, Sony has the same issues) is not Logitech's poor product but Google's poor service and especially poor contracting. Google managed to overthrow itself with a lot of content providers and that was that for Google TV.

What Logitech should have done would be to have an own understanding of the product and integrate it with things like the Squeezebox from the start. It was pretty obvious that a product like Google TV would not conquer the world in a day.
I've seen this with other companies that are not strong enough in product management: they lean on a strong partner and hope that some contract will them big business.
But it's not strong partners who bring you big business, it's good products. And to make a good product you have to understand what the product is about, you have to understand the customer and then it's all about the details. All the integration, the nitpicking small stuff, the design, the accessibility, in short: all that what Apple does so well.
But you can't outsource that to whatever good partner, you need to have an own understanding or you will fail, just as has happened with Revue.
Amen.

[nicolas75]

LMS was not there fo the initail revue , it was there for 2 weeks so it had noting to do with it.

I called it LMS since it is the current version.
Previous version for initial revue was Logitech software as well, I guess.
LMS is hopefully probably better.
But having used Squeezeboxes softwares for several years now, I know that it is not tailored for wide non tech audience.

The lack of content of Google TV is obviously a problem.
But I guess a lot of people hardly know there is a lack of content.
Even with their own material, they must struggle with the software, and can't get it right.
In this situation, normal people just drop the system.

[castalla]

LMS was not there fo the initail revue , it was there for 2 weeks so it had noting to do with it.

They managed on thier own,

Not what most were led to believe ... LMS was a shoe-in to provide a service for the Revue. As a consequence, we all got a shiny new squeezeboox server with features that 99% of current users will never need. Anyone with a large video collection is already likely to have another more efficient way of accessing this.

Personally, I hate this move to merge everything into one device. For me, a radio is a radio, a tv is a tv, and a phone is a phone (definitely not a radio/tv/gambling machine, etc.) - but then, call me old-fashioned.

[pippin]

You could not use any of the previous SBS versions with Revue