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Google

Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

By Conner Forrest March 31, 2014, 12:00 PM PDT

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Google Answers
Google Answers
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google Answers

Image: Google

Google Answers

Google Answers was Google’s marketplace for knowledge. Users posted a question and the amount they were willing to pay for an answer, and then researchers would answer the question. The community was too small and the service could never compete with Yahoo’s answers service.

Image: Google
Google Buzz
Google Buzz
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google Buzz

Image: CNET

Google Buzz

Google Buzz was a social platform for sharing content that was incorporated into Gmail. Buzz met heavy criticism and raised numerous privacy issues among users. It was discontinued in December 2011.

Image: CNET
Google Latitude
Google Latitude
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google Latitude

Image: CNET

Google Latitude

Google Latitude was a location-based app that allowed users to find some of their Gmail contacts by proximity. It failed mostly because it was creepy.

Image: CNET
Nexus Q
Nexus Q
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Nexus Q

Image: Google

Nexus Q

The Nexus Q was Google’s multimedia player challenge to the Apple TV. The problem was that the product was $300 and it didn’t really do much. At least it looked cool.

Image: Google
Google TV
Google TV
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google TV

Image: Google

Google TV

Google TV was a smart TV platform launched in 2010. The implementation was clumsy and the products were not well-received. It’s rumored that Google TV could be rebranded as Android TV.

Image: Google
iGoogle
iGoogle
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

iGoogle

Image: TechRepublic

iGoogle

iGoogle allowed users to created a customizable homepage with widgets such as weather and content feeds. The company initially announced they would migrate the social features in 2012.

“With our new focus on Google+, we will remove iGoogle’s social features on January 15, 2012. iGoogle itself, and non-social iGoogle applications, will stay as they are,” said Bradley Horowitz, then vice president of product.

As it turns out, the other features weren’t all that useful so Google canned iGoogle in November 2013.

Image: TechRepublic
Knol
Knol
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Knol

Image: CNET

Knol

Knol was Google’s challenge to Wikipedia. The site was plagued by plagiarism and poor sourcing, which ultimately led to its demise. Also, the concept of monetizing knowledge was too strange.

Image: CNET
Web Accelerator
Web Accelerator
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Web Accelerator

Image: Google

Web Accelerator

Web Accelerator was a proxy server that sped up web surfing times by caching certain types of info. There were some privacy concerns and the product was buggy. It even kept users from watching YouTube videos.

Image: Google
Lively
Lively
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Lively

Image: Google

Lively

Lively was Google’s online 3D universe, similar to Second Life. Lively was too complex and didn’t offer enough customization for users. It was barely six months old when Google killed it.

Image: Google
Google Print Ads
Google Print Ads
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google Print Ads

Image: Google

Google Print Ads

Yep, at one point Google started producing print ads in nearly 800 newspapers. It was Google running backwards and the revenue just wasn’t there.

Image: Google
Google Building Maker
Google Building Maker
Google’s 12 biggest product debacles of all time

Google Building Maker

Image: Google

Google Building Maker

Google Building Maker allowed users to make 3D models of buildings to be used in conjunction with Google Earth. Building Maker was too ambitious of a project and a community never developed around it, so the service was retired in 2013.

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By Conner Forrest
Connor is a former Senior Editor for TechRepublic. I write about enterprise tech and startups, occasionally. When I'm not writing I'm playing ice hockey.
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