There is generally a huge problem when a company is selling technology products in a store where said company does not control the experience or the message for the product. Competition is too high to let an employee, who may just want a job, try and sell or not sell the consumer a product. This does not go for every employee but it is a risk a company must take when they do not own the customer experience. Best Buy for example does not care about what platform an employee pushes to the consumer as long as they are able to make a sale. This is an especially a huge problem for a company like Microsoft that is trying to gain footing in the mobile space.
Apple has obviously found great success in having their own stores. What helps Apple is that they are currently the trendy company and make products that people like and want. Their products are perceived to be superior to the competition by many people, even though that may not actually be true. Microsoft has also tried the store concept with not nearly as much success. The problem with Microsoft is that they tend to screw up at least one thing associated with a product launch or selling a product. To make matters worse, Microsoft's product do not at all have the appeal that an Apple products has. I feel that at this point, Google is popular enough to have just as much success or even more than Apple.
Many people that follow technology and some that do not know that Samsung's mobile platform is Android. There are also many people that when asked whether Samsung is running Android OS may either not know or just say no, they are running TouchWiz or Galaxy. In fact, there isn't even a mention of Android on Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones. This is a huge problem for Google. Essentially, Android is really a platform that Google can use to push their services and provide advertising. It is become essential to their business. If people continue to buy Samsung smartphones in droves and people replace Google's brand with Samsung, Samsung may be able to eventually push their own services and do what Google is doing now with their services and advertising. Google needs to defend their Android brand while making sure it is synonymous with Google. This is where Motorola comes in.
Believe it or not, Google has many consumer products. They have Chrome OS, Google TV, Android, and probably other products that I am not aware of. Chrome OS is not killing it in the market and Google really hasn't done a great job marketing the product. The same can be said of Google TV. Google recently finalized their purchase of Motorola, a hardware manufacturer. I didn't think that Google was just going after Motorola for the patents. Motorola has very good brand recognition and Google can use this to push their stock Android OS which none of the manufacturers use. They can make sure that Android and Google is branded on each phone while making sure their services are paramount on Motorola's phones. Seeing that Google has had really good success with the Nexus line of phones, I do not think that Google would have a problem selling stock Motorola phones. People who buy those phones could potentially get their updates quicker considering there isn't a need to skin the OS. This could lead to a significant advantage for Motorola over competitors. Couple this with Google having their own stores and controlling the customer experience, they potentially have a pretty big hit on their hands.
Google can use their stores to pushe their own interests while making sure consumers have a good experience. Even though Google is currently having huge success selling Android phones, at what point are the manufacturers the more important factor than Google. I think it is essential that Google sell their products in their own stores so that they can push their own products that are essential to their business model.
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