In the past decade, Google I/O has released many successful products, the most successful of which is the Android operating system. This release has directly affected the global mobile Internet situation and made Google the most influential Internet giant in the world.
But it is true that in the process of Google's advancement, there are also many decisions that are far below expectations. For example, among the Google SNS products that everyone is familiar with, there are few successful examples.
The failed product described in the article is "Google did not include apps that were a huge success but were shut down for some reason, such as Google Reader, which were highly anticipated and focused on development and launch."
No.5 Google gear (2008 – 2010)
At the I/O conference in 2008, Google Gears, an offline application development tool, was released. Google Gears is actually a browser extension software that allows external developers to develop offline applications for mainstream browsers such as IE or Firefox. Later, Google changed the name of the tool to "Gears" and released it as an open source product.
In February 2010, Google announced that it would use HTML 5 technology to create browser/cloud-based applications in the future, which also meant that Google officially abandoned the Gears project.
No.4 Google Wave (2009 – 2010)
According to the statement when Google Wave was released at Google I/O in 2009, it is a "personal communication and collaboration tool", a web service, computing platform and communication protocol designed to merge email, instant messaging, wiki and social networks. It has a powerful real-time collaboration and powerful spelling check function, can automatically translate 40 languages, and many other extensions, such as users can also realize collaborative editing of documents.
However, since the launch of Google Wave, the service has been facing the challenge of too few users, which led Google to announce in August 2010 that it would no longer continue the development of Google Wave. In September, Google opened the source code of Google Wave to the public, and Lars Rasmussen, the original head of the project, also jumped to Facebook.
No.3 Hands free(2015 – 2016)
In May 2015, Google launched another payment feature besides Android Pay at the I/O Developer Conference - Hands Free, which allows payments without using both hands.
Google will set up checkout devices in stores. After entering the store, the device equipped with Hands Free can be located through a series of functions such as Bluetooth, GPS positioning, Wifi, etc., and connect to the merchant's checkout device. Customers can complete the payment by simply saying "I'll pay with Google" at the checkout counter.
The store will also confirm the user's information. By asking for the user's name, you can learn about the user's appearance, credit card and other related information. After completing the identity confirmation, you can pay. As for the user information that the merchant can see, it is also limited, and the user's photos taken in the mall will be deleted after payment. In theory, Hands Free is a good solution, but in actual application, it has not been recognized by the market, so Google chose to give up. Currently, Hands Free has been officially closed on February 8, 2016.
No.2 Google Buzz (2010-2012)
Google Buzz is a social and communication tool developed by Google and integrated into the company's email service Gmail. Links and information shared by friends will be displayed in the Gmail interface. Buzz combines photos, videos, links and other elements, forming an important part of Gmail conversations.
When users publish Buzz, they can choose to share it with the world or a limited group of people. The creation of Buzz is considered to be an attempt by Google to take on social networking services such as Facebook. Buzz also borrows interface elements from websites such as FriendFeed, such as being able to "like" a message.
After Google+ was fully opened, Google discontinued the Google Buzz service at the end of 2011.
No.1 Google Generation X (one day in 2005)
Google X is definitely the shortest-lived product of Google since its establishment.
Google X is now a mysterious high-tech department under Google, which has developed high-tech products such as Google Glass and driverless cars. However, 10 years ago, the name Google X was used for a failed product.
Google X, launched in 2005, attempted to add a dock bar similar to Apple's Mac OS X to the search engine homepage, listing all Google products on it. Unfortunately, it was not easy to use and was shut down by Google after one day.
I really only lived for one day.