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Hurricane Sandy ravaged the streets and neighborhoods of the east coast a year ago, but as with any natural disaster you don’t exactly overcome the effects overnight. That’s why Google wants to help make life just a little bit easier. The Mountain View company has decided to donate 17,000 Nexus 7 tablets to New York folks (with various libraries, schools, and other institutions getting a majority of them).
The primary use will likely be communication with concerned family and friends, and information access for those who need to look up various bits of info for stuff like insurance claims and aide requests. It’ll also be a life saver for entertainment for those who just need to take a break from the pressures of getting back up on their feet.
The donation is worth about $2.7 million, which is no small penny (though we imagine it’s easier to let go of unused stock than actual cash). We’re not sure which version of the Nexus 7 is being sent out for donation, but for now folks are assuming Google decided to offload stock of the 2012 version.We’ll be reaching out to clarify, though it probably doesn’t matter to the recipients — a free tablet is a free tablet.
[via CNET]
Hey, A Free Tablet is a Free Tablet…
A day or two was the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. While it’s nice that Google is helping some of the people that are still effected, it could have done this a little earlier.
Google decided to give charity to some of the victims of Hurricane Sandy while you decided to complain about it being late.
Keep it up, You are giving the world a great service.
I’m not complaining that they are giving to victims of Hurricane Sandy. I think it’s a good thing. I just don’t think you can look past the fact that it happened a year ago. I live in the NJ/NY area, so I know the devastation that it had on people (I have relatives that lost houses and have gotten no help to rebuild them since there is no evidence a house was ever there). And just so you know I donated money and clothing to people in need less than a week after everything occurred.
Charity is still warranted as a good act regardless of the time it was done, Besides the nexus 7 isn’t a basic necessity to begin with. People might pay less attention to it if they received it after the incident.
This is a $2.7 million marketing ploy. It’s great for people on the receiving end, and also good publicity for Google.
It’s marketing. There are no ploys here.
Marketing IS a ploy.
ploy
ploi/
noun
1.a cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one’s own advantage.
So… everybody wins. Let’s give a cheer to Capitalism!
Yay Capitalism! I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Don’t forget about tax relief benefits for donations.
A tax credit is far less than either the cost of the inventory or cash sales value of the devices. That’s not exactly profiting.
That’s not how taxation works.
way to go Google…you dont see Apple or Microsoft doing anything like this….just sayin….
Apple and Microsoft donated $2.5 million:
http://news.yahoo.com/private-donations-hurricane-sandy-relief-fall-short-163500875.html
Just sayin’
while $2.7 million dollars sounds like a lot, Google will probably make more money on the usage of those tablets, youtube ads, Gmail ads etc.
Help them connect to the world? I don’t understand… Are people still feeling from the aftermath of this storm over year ago? I think not, Google is just looking for anyone to give these away to. Overstock, get Google software into more hands (library’s and such), big publicity for little cost.
The rebuilding process is nowhere near complete… in fact, only a fraction of the devastation has been corrected. Google ‘Hurricane Sandy one year later’ and you’ll find many articles and websites cataloging the still monumental work to be done.
Just because the hurricane is no longer “front page news” does not mean the problem is over.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-29/the-wreckage-of-hurricane-sandy-one-year-later
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/10/hurricane-sandy-one-year-later-part-ii/100617/
No love for Jersey? Plenty are still suffering along the Jersey shore.
Nice way to offload 2012 excess stock if the case. Brownie points to you Google.
Honestly, the 2012 models were pretty decent and still are.
Thank you for calling it “Hurricane Sandy” instead of “Superstorm Sandy”.
If you think that Google would make more money from the usage of these tablets then the cost of the tablets themselves, then EVERYONE would receive a free tablet.