Two decades ago, Google was an Internet search engine company. Today, the Mountain View-based firm is one of the tech industry’s biggest leaders with initiatives ranging from operating systems, apps, cloud services, and communications solutions to self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearables, and smartphones. To say that Google has diversified its portfolio would be a huge understatement. Furthermore, that strategy is seemingly paying off. The Alphabet-owned company currently has the second most valuable brand in the world and is a leading innovator in most branches of the tech industry. Last Tuesday, Google continued its expansion and diversification strategy by announcing the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. While the two devices can technically be seen as Nexus successors, these are the first two phones ever which were completely designed by Google and are solely featuring the company’s branding.
The Pixel phones, Google Home connected speaker, Google Glass 2, Google OnHub router, and a variety of other existing and upcoming consumer electronics designed or made by the Mountain View tech giant are all a part of the company’s long-term hardware bet. And while consumers are seemingly rather pleased with Google’s hardware-related endeavors, enterprises are still not buying the idea of the advertising giant producing quality solutions for big businesses. In a recent poll conducted by the TechRepublic’s so-called CIO Jury which encompasses most of the leading decision-makers in the western tech industry, almost two-thirds of interviewees stated that they’re extremely skeptical about the usefulness of products like Google Pixel and Google Wi-Fi in the context of enterprises.
Among other things, the polled industry professionals stated that they’re worried about Google’s openness towards third-parties which they can’t see disappearing anytime soon given how” selling information” is the company’s core business. In addition to that, some chief information officers and other decision-makers also expressed worries about Google’s “track record of being fickle with their products”. Even the interviewees who answered they’d trust Google’s hardware in an enterprise environment specifically pointed out that they’d only do so after reviewing the company’s terms and conditions about gathering their data and seeing whether they’re acceptable. On the other hand, most individuals who stated they don’t trust the existing Google hardware haven’t completely ruled out the possibility of cooperating with the tech giant in the future. Nonetheless, it’s obvious Google still has a long way to go before making a solid foothold in the business of servicing enterprises.