I don’t really understand why they do that. Isn’t there more than enough demand? They don’t have to create weird incentives to attract the wrong people! They want people to attend who will actually get the most benefit (knowledge about making things on various Google platforms) from it and benefit Google in turn, not anyone else.
From this comment thread, it appears that giving away free stuff can't please everyone. One comment complains that some cardboard isn't good enough, while yours bemoans Google giving away stuff that's too good.
I think the idea is to get devices in the hands of developers; people that will play with it and report bugs or blog about it, people that will code up a little app to see how it works on a watch, and so on. It does create incentives for people that just want free stuff to go to I/O, but it's probably a lot simpler and cheaper for them to just buy it when it's released. If you're not a developer, is a smart watch with no third-party apps that useful to you? Probably not. Being an early adopter is rarely sunshine and rainbows.
> That's a huge cutback from everyone getting laptops or phones.
is a complaint that "some cardboard isn't good enough." Google has been giving away things like phones and laptops at Google I/O for a few years. I think it's reasonable to say that giving away "only some cardboard" is a huge cutback, without commenting on whether that's a good or bad thing.
> I don’t really understand why they do that. Isn’t there more than enough demand?
There is. But they also want developers to work on their products. What better way to get them started than to give them away at a developer conference.
There was some HN discussion about this a few weeks ago. It was mentioned that the freebies attract opportunists who just want to acquire gadgets to flip them on ebay. Legitimate developers are crowded out of the conference as a result.
In my opinion, the solution is to put the gadgets in generic packaging and, maybe, if there's enough time, key them to an attendee's badge. Then, the flippers will have to market them as "open box" and "like new".
It breeds good will. People will be going to google io, spending a couple of days only thinking about google and leave feeling happy with their new toys. Also, if there is anyone there not in the android ecosystem they will sure as hell give it a try once they leave with their new top of the line phone.
Its not designed as an incentive to attend, is designed to get devices in the hands of the kinds of people who will attend I/O so that they can develop for them and act as product evangelists.
As long as they keep the value of the devices lower than the cost of attending, that incentive ought to be minimized. I think they may have done giveaways in the past that were worth more than the ticket price, though.
