Google’s Pixel Launch and Transient Strategy
On October 4th, Google had its Pixel Launch Event, in which it unveiled a total of 5 items including; Google Pixel, Daydream View Headset, Chromecast Ultra, Google WiFi and Google Home. These products allow Google to enter new niche markets within the technology industry and others enable Google to progress and evolve in markets they are currently in. Most importantly, I am going to focus on the use of transient strategy – accepting that ‘competitive advantages are often short lived’ and focusing on building a broad range of products instead of perfecting one.
Google released its search engine in 1998 and 2 years after released Google AdWords, ever since then the company has focused on providing users with as many products as possible ranging from Gmail to Google Maps to Google Drive – this is known as ‘Transient Strategy’. This strategy’s main advantage is that the company that employs it is able to break into many different markets, connecting them with more customers. On the other hand, it can be argued that this strategy means that a company is not able to specialize a single product in one market. However, this point could be refuted as Google uses this strategy as is arguably the number one company in the search engine industry.
In my opinion, I believe in the merit of product diversity and I do support the use of transient strategy as the diverse ranges of products provided by a company can provide them with a safety net in the case of one product failing. However, I believe that this strategy may not always be the most effective one to use. In the case of Google, there are a lot of products that are not widely used such as the Google Glass or Google Alerts. On October 4th when they unveiled the 5 products it was clear that the Pixel phone was the focus of it, pushing the other products out of the spotlight. This could result in these products such as the Chromecast ultra not reaching its potential. This raises certain questions such as if this strategy is the best use of Google’s capital and their resources.
In conclusion, transient strategy is one that can provide a company with the edge it needs to excel, the key I believe is knowing when and to what extent to execute this strategy. Google definitely has product diversity as an asset but the degree to which they have successfully employed transient strategy can be debated, mainly based on the opportunity cost of creating so many diverse products.
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Bibliography:
http://lifehacker.com/313530/top-10-google-products-you-forgot-all-about
https://hbr.org/2013/06/transient-advantage
http://www.popsci.com/googles-pixel-phones-home-daydream-and-more-are-here
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/4/13161028/google-phone-announced-pixel-xl-price-release-date-specs
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/4/13160134/google-phone-event-2016-pixel-home-daydream-vr-news-recap