At some point Google needs to realize that releasing products then killing them like this makes people worry about using them for other projects. Simply going on number of users / revenue per user doesn't seem to be a a great long term strategy.
I don't get Google sometimes. They repeatedly launch a product with a ton of potential, don't market it whatsoever, then shut it down due to lack of growth or inactivity. Where's the logic there?
What's the point of adopting Google products if most end up being canned? I love that they're willing to release cool new products but it's almost like a bunch of children who quickly move on to another set of toys
The only way Google actually commits to a product is if it becomes so popular so fast that killing it would rock society as we know it. Gmail, YouTube, Maps, etc.
And after whoever started the project gets their promotion, the product will be killed off and Google will chase another shiny thing. How much does anyone trust totally new Google things these days?
Given that this is Google, my money is on them either abandoning it, or making a new version every 2-3 years (for no discernable reason) making no actual progress as a result.
I would LOVE to be proven wrong, but Google's track record with bringing products to market, and actually keeping them for longer than a media boost, is downright depressing.
At some point it feels like every Google side project is just a media buy for their real business: hiring engineers to drive more ad revenue, engineers who are enticed by shiny projects like these.
Google puts things on the chopping block due to small userbase or not enough user growth. A very large user base product but which has stagnated should be fine as long as users don't start leavign
Eh - Google is going to cancel this project in a few months as it withers on the vine. Google is good at making little innovative products, but not good at maintaining them.
I think Google should focus on continuous product development. They always create a product and then leave it alone without touching it again. Usually the product is good originally, but it degrades because nobody updates it.
I don't quite get what people expect... do they think that once google creates something, they are obligated to continue it indefinitely? That seems like an unreasonable expectation.
Shocker, this is why I didn't invest anything in that platform as a consumer user, Google is so so prone to killing off projects. It was a cool idea but it obviously was one among many and wasn't going to get the attention/time/resources needed to build something meaningful.
I believe Google is completely blind that these kinds of moves cause people to not want to invest themselves in their new products. Why would I want to pioneer using new something if there is good likelihood it will get unceremoniously killed with very little reason / advance notice.
I imagine Google views this as a positive thing, trying a million ideas, so that hopefully it increases the chances of having at least one good and popular idea. The downside is, a lot of products they killed were good ideas, but its sink or swim and they don't get the products the needed love and attention so they don't take off and thus they kill them. And now even when releasing a good idea or good piece of hardware people will always be worried if it will be gone tomorrow, which leads to less adoption and more axing of products.
I really hope they succeed with this. However, the fact that they are publicly offering $5M to someone, ANYONE, who can think of a real world use case for these things as they currently exist does not inspire confidence. And Google has certainly acquired a reputation for killing projects these days.
that is very worrying, but i also wonder how hard google tried. they don't have a very good track record for building and maintaining products outside of their main product space (ads and selling data).
Yep, as far too many people have discovered to their pain, that's the Google Product Way: throw something at the wall; if it doesn't stick and gain viral-like adoption in a short time, kill it and move on.
It's astonishing the strategy that Google follows with their products. This trend of releasing stuff and cancelling it later is reaching the point of being meme. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that markets are hard to predict and compete in and offering a competent product at those sizes requires a lot of economic and human effort but for god sake, I seriously think they should plan better and think twice because this is seriously damaging their image.
I think you don't understand what Google intends when they release a new product.
Do you want a company to 1) only brew products (with a business model) internally until it is ready to ship, or 2) develop and release lots of things and see what works or not?
Google leans towards #2. They don't really care if they can make money off of something, if one of their engineers is interested in something they're allowed to take that risk. They put lots of stuff in the wild and if it doesn't stick then they kill it (or in most cases leave the source to the public - see wave) - or try to make it profitable (look at gapps).
Yes, a lot of things coming out of Google die, but that's only because they're putting out lots of things all the time. The day they stop putting out unproven stuff and only release v1.0 products is the day they lose their innovation edge.
Is anyone else concerned this will be yet another Google product that goes by the wayside in a few years? This has essentially become my biggest fear now with any new product they announce/release.
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