We recently reported on the possibility of Google opening its own line of Google Stores. That rumor was 100 percent denied on Tuesday by Google Head of Android development, Andy Rubin.
Speaking to AllThingsD ‘s Ina Fried, the Google executive said of possible retail locations:
“Google has no plans and we have nothing to announce.”
In explaining why Google does not require retail stores, Rubin proclaims that consumers “don’t have to go in the store and feel [products] anymore.” It is a strange argument seeing as most analysts and customers have complained about the lack of hands on availability for some newer Google products.
In fact, a well received piece by TechCrunch ‘s MG Siegler recently suggested that “average consumers are never going to buy [Google’s] projects online without having tried them first.”
It is that very hands-on desire that drove more than 325 million people to Apple retail stores in 2012, a new record for the tech giant. Apple credits iPad adoption to its in-store displays and their hands-on availability.
It is that very type of hands on experience many users may yearn for when attempting to choose between Windows 8 , Mac OS X, and Google Chrome OS devices.
Rubin, in the meantime, believes that Google can create enough online tools and provide enough positive online reviews of its products to drive sales. Andy Rubin also believes that customers will continue to buy more products based on word-of-mouth and social networking suggestions from friends, family members, and co-workers.
Rubin also admits that the Google Nexus program is not “far enough along to think about the necessity of having these things in a retail store.”
So, perhaps the question shouldn’t be whether or not Google will bring products to a Google retail store but how long it will experiment and grow its hardware lines before such stores are necessary.
Google already offers some in-store displays that serve as a mini-Google showroom for its various product lines.
