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Google to open its own retail stores in US later this year: Report

Google to open its own retail stores in US later this year: Report

By KS Sandhya Iyer | Updated: 18 February 2013 16:28 IST

Apple has multiple retail stores across the globe that have proved beneficial for the company as far as the 'try and buy' aspect is concerned. In his most recent public appearance, CEO Tim Cook defined Apple stores as one of the biggest reasons behind its recent success. Inspired by Apple's success, Microsoft launched a series of stores of its own stores across US (and one in Canada). Now, according to various media reports, Google is set to join the bandwagon by opening its very own retail stores across major metropolitan areas in the United States before the end of this year.

Citing "an extremely reliable source", 9to5Google reports that the search giant plans to enter the physical space and is in the process of building stand-alone retail stores in the US. The news comes followed by recent reports of the search giant planning to open its first retail store within its European headquarters at Dublin.

With these stores, Google will be able to help customers make an informed decision by experiencing Google products, ranging from the Nexus lineup to its Chromebooks first hand, that is currently not possible via the Google's Play Store.

As of now, Google has several Stores-in-Stores with retailers like Best Buy in the US and 50PCWorld/ Dixon's in the UK. But these stores only offer Google an opportunity to promote its products and inform the customers of the know-how on various Google devices.

The new stores are said to be fully independent and operated by Google. The report also speculates that Google could use the stores to also sell its "apparel and other Google-branded merchandise". This seems to be in line with reports from Bloomberg Businessweek, which mentions that a planning application filed by the company indicates that Google intends to open a store to the public and sell "Google merchandise."

9to5Google also notes that the decision to open these stores apparently stemmed from Google's plans to make Google Glass available to the public. It felt that a product like Google Glass will have to be experienced by the customers in real-time before they decide to make a purchase.

The device recently arrived at the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for testing. The move was confirmed by a filing with the FCC, which is for the Explorer Edition of the device, includes certification documents for the device's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules that include line diagrams of the device. According to the filing, the device features a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi radio and a Bluetooth 4.0 + LE module.

Google had also started pre-bookings for the Explorer Edition of the device, pricing it at $1,500 for San Francisco developers attending the three day conference. It had promised deliveries in 2013.

The report further stated, "Along with Glass, Google will have an opportunity to demonstrate other upcoming and Google X projects like driverless cars and mini-drone delivery systems at its stores."

Image Courtesy: 9to5Google

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