Google has often been extolled for its product innovations. However, it seems slowdown has cast its shadow on the company's `innovation spirit' too. The search giant, who is taking a harder line on managing expenses as the recession curbs spending on online ads, has been almost on a shutting spree. The past six months witnessed the company pull the plug on as many as nine of its new products.
Several of these causalities include products launched with lot of fanfare like Google Lively, which was widely believed to be the company's answer to Second Life.
Here's looking into the products/services Google has dumped in the last few months.
Broadcast radio ad business |  |
| Google Inc has abandoned its efforts to sell advertising for broadcast radio stations, acknowledging that the three-year project has failed.
The leading Web search company said that it plans to sell its Radio Automation business, which created software to automate broadcast radio programming, and phase out its Audio Ads service.
The move will likely result in up to 40 people being laid off, Google said. Google has been re-appraising initiatives intended to expand its income beyond Internet advertising, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of total revenue.
Advertisers will continue to be able to use Audio Ads until May 31, the company said. Google -- which had 20,222 full-time employees as of December 31 -- would instead focus its efforts on placing ads on streaming audio over the Internet, according to company's vice president of product management, Susan Wojcicki.
Google plans to continue investing in its television ad business. It also is seeking ways to sell more advertising on online audio services, which younger audiences are using. | |
Google Lively |  |
| In July 2008 Google launched Google Lively, a 3D virtual reality service, with much fanfare. Four months, and Internet giant's take on Second Life ran out of fuel. Google announced that it is discontinuing Lively by the end of the year.
The shut down reflected Lively's inability to stand out from the rest of the virtual reality crowd. Lively was Web-based and allowed anyone to set up virtual spaces, such as rooms, that could be embedded onto blogs or Facebook pages.
Google management concluded that it needed to sharpen its focus on its primary business of Internet search and advertising as the company's revenue growth showed signs of a deteriorating economy.
"We've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritise our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business," Google wrote in a blog post.
According to the blog, the employees working on Lively were reassigned other jobs after the service shut down. The pack of virtual worlds is led by Second Life, where people deploy animated alter egos known as avatars to pursue digital fantasies.
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