I think Apple should take every competitor seriously and I am sure they do.
My point is that Google has a history of being unable to ship anything properly. And until we see them do so and with a sizable profit margin then they shouldn't be considered in the same league as Apple. And the important skill is not making the laptop it's in the supply chain management.
You just said "nobody will or should take them seriously" and now you're saying Apple should take them seriously. Google shipped tons of products properly, if you're talking about nexus devices, they don't even advertise those much, they're more of a testbed for what's coming.
Let's be clear about this, Google's really been in the hardware business for about what.. a year, maybe 1.5? Any product pre that was developer oriented. I don't think you can expect a company to be shipping 10 million units when it has really only started to tackle general market hardware, let alone compare them to a 30+ year old manufacturer. For starters the market adoption has barely begun in the public eye.
That said though, they are starting to do what matters most, build great products... and that is what is the start to market acceptance. Guaranteed success? No... but certainly looking like they are figuring it out.
My point is that Google has a history of being unable to ship anything properly. And until we see them do so and with a sizable profit margin then they shouldn't be considered in the same league as Apple. And the important skill is not making the laptop it's in the supply chain management.