Google to stop 10 products in a major cleanup

Google has
announced its intention to shut
down 10 products worth tens of
millions of dollars as part of a
cleanup of underperforming
aspects of its business.
The cleanup is being orchestrated
by Google's CEO Larry Page, who
promised to chop inefficiencies as
soon as he took over the top job
in April.
"Technology improves, people's
needs change, some bets pay off
and others don't. So, as Larry
previewed on our last earnings
call, today we're having a fall
spring clean at Google," said Alan
Eustace, SVP at Google in a blog
posting. "Over the next few
months we'll be shutting down a
number of products and merging
others into existing products as
features."
The products getting the axe
include Aardvark, Desktop, Fast
Flip, Google Maps API for Flash,
Google Pack, Google Web Security,
Image Labeler, Notebook,
Sidewiki, and Subscribed Links.
Some of these products were
recent purchases, such as search
company Aardvark that Google
bought last year for $50m, while
others have been with the
company longer, like Google Web
Security, which Google acquired
when it bought Postini in 2007.
These are not the first of Google's
many products to be shut down.
A few weeks agoGoogle closed
its social apps company Slide,
which was also a recent
acquisition for an even pricier
$200m.
Speaking about the reasons for
this decision, Eustace said, "This
will make things much simpler for
our users, improving the overall
Google experience. It will also
mean we can devote more
resources to high impact
products-the ones that improve
the lives of billions of people."
What these high impact products
are is anyone's guess, but it's
clear to most people that the
recently launched Google+ social
network, which many think is the
strongest rival to Facebook's
domination of the market, is one
of them.
Staff who previously worked on
any of the 10 soon to be axed
products will be moved to work
on other more important Google
products, so it looks like jobs are
safe amidst the closures.
Google said it will "continue to
take risks", suggesting that its
acquisition spending spree won't
grind to a halt, but it seems that it
is now focusing on key areas of
its expanding business instead of
trying to have a presence in every
online technology niche.
Many of these 10 products will be
discontinued within the next two
weeks.

SOURCE