Google's Products That Failed to Embark upon Its New Journey

By siliconindia | Thursday, 15 September 2016, 04:34 Hrs

BENGALURU: Google ubiquitousness—from software to hardware world to personal assistance on various aspects—has become a fact of our quick lives. Where on one side, tablets and smart phones tried establishing connectivity; Google on the other hand followed the trend and kept us closer to every experience by leaving no stone untouched with its innovations. We know that even the best innovations are sometimes the ones that people think are doomed to fail. However, we have listed some innovations that Google thought would go popular, buts it backfired.

Let’s take a brief look on Google's 7 biggest miss uptil now:

1) Lively: Lasting for around six months, Google's virtual worlds turned out to be a perfect example of "right idea, wrong implementation". Google wanted users to be able to interact with their connections in expressive ways, but couldn't catch on. They called for shutting down in 2008 itself.

2) Google Glass: The smart-glass project, first unveiled in 2012, was launched in a dramatic fashion. But, the high price tag, software misgivings, and potential privacy problems never allowed it to reach to the masses. Google put an end to its sales in January 2015 and is now working on new version, says sources.

3) Google Health: The personal health info service by Google originally intended to allow users to upload their health records and access wellness information online. After close observation of the service, Google found that it was not having the broader impact as expected and there were privacy issues as well. It operated from 2008 to 2011.

4) Orkut: 90’s kid would remember it perfectly; it made a noticeable impact around the world as a popular social networking service. Before Google decided to kill it in 2014, Facebook had started making its presence into the market.

5) 7) Google Answers: One of the Larry’s initiatives in 2006 did manage to serve a purpose from April 2002 to November 2006. The concept was to open a platform for all to ask general queries and researchers would be paid to answer those queries. It was the first project Google worked on.

6) Google Buzz: This “Google’s clone to Twitter” was basically a social networking service integrated right into Gmail and let users post photos, status updates, and videos and other things. The major thing that went against their plan was to sneak up on users. The product lasted for 22 months and folded in October 2011.

7) iGoogle: A customizable and personalized homepage would allow users to showcase images, quotes, and other widgets their homepage with widgets. Soon, Google realized that iGoogle was unwanted discontinued in favor of Google+ in 2013.

Google's Products That Failed to Embark upon Its New Journey

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