People aren't buying specs, they're buying an integrated experience. You can definitely reproduce the spec sheet for less money, but you cannot trivially reproduce the HUI or the research that went into it. It is the interface which is the USP of this product, not the hardware.

The Jamboard may be superior but the Jamboard doesn't exist as an actual product. We have no final demos, no release date (except "2017"), no specs, and no prices. When the Jamboard ships, only then can we draw decent comparisons.

> The Jamboard may be superior but the Jamboard doesn't exist as an actual product. We have no final demos, no release date (except "2017"), no specs, and no prices. When the Jamboard ships, only then can we draw decent comparisons.

Yeah, but it's Google. It feels like at least half their products that are announced with big fanfare either are never released, or released and then scrapped after just a couple years (Code, Wave, Code Search, ...).

What should they do to products that dont work? Keep pouring good money in them?

not hyping vaporware would be a start

Don't announce stuff you won't release? Like eg. Project Ara

As consumers, we might want this, but it's not a smart idea for companies. Their early announcements are tests to see if there's enough excitement long before the product is ready. If very few people get excited then very few people remember you never finished the thing because no one cared. Google, especially, is looking at these types of metrics early on.

This reminds me of a talk by Steve Yegge (an episode of the original old StackOverflow Podcast) where he says that the reverse is true a lot of the time. If you announce something and people find it lacklustre, they won't even care when you release the product even it is amazing.

Similarly if you hype before release and deliver, you will never be able to meet the hype that you set yourself and that will lead to failure.

[1]: http://stackoverflow.blog/2008/10/podcast-25/

Interestingly enough, Google has the best metrics with which to gauge customer interest - just tally up the searches for the product.

This is what company partners are for.

For example, my employer got to taste pre-alpha .NET, back in the day.

Wasn't aware of Jamboard. Thanks for the reference. Link for others: https://gsuite.google.com/jamboard/

They should give these away for free so that more businesses would sign up for G suite.

It's been over 10 years since Docs and its shocking how businesses haven't started using it. MS is trying to imitate those experiences but 365 in a browser is still painful.

The fact that you need an app to connect to Surface is so alien in my universe.