Google is to discontinue ten of its services as the internet giant looks to focus on existing money-makers and new products such as Google+.
The products listed for closure include Aardvark, Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Maps API for Flash, Google Pack, Google Web Security, Image Labeler, Notebook, Sidewiki and Subscribed Links.
Some products will be merged with others, whilst others will simply be shut down, in a ‘fall spring clean’ according to the official announcement.
Writing in Google’s official blog, Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President at Google said the move was intended to improve “the overall Google experience”, and help the search engine company to spend more time and money on “high impact products”.
The decision comes after Larry Page announced record-breaking quarterly revenue in July, when he also said that he had created a new structure that focused on product management.
A new team was put in place that had a clear responsibility for each product area, a move that he said had “already achieved a lot in just three months”.
Product managers were asked earlier this year to pitch a 60-word explanation of their projects to the 38-year-old Google founder, with a view to slimming down the number.
In July, Google closed down its experimental feature-testing suite Google Labs.
Employees working on the products that are to be stopped will be moved across to work on the “high impact” projects over the next few months. Google said that they will let users know about the transition when necessary in order to enable them “to take their data with them.”
Aardvark and Desktop will both be closing, alongside Google Pack, which is discontinued with immediate effect. However, links to partners’ software will remain available on the Pack website.
Image Labeller is also on the way out, as is Notebook, which will have all stored data automatically transferred over to Docs.
Sidewiki and Subscribed links will cease too, however Google say that authors and developers for these services will have plenty of time to download their data, months in the case of the former with the latter only available until September 15th.
Fast Flip has been developed over the last couple of years in order to fuel “a new approach to faster, richer content display on the web”, making it somewhat obsolete now.
The Google Maps API for Flash will be supported for existing customers but Google say they now want to focus their attention on the Javascript Maps API v3 for the future.
Web Security will also be supported but the company say that most of the features have been integrated into most of their products anyway.
Whilst Google haven’t specified which of their existing products they will be concentrating their efforts on, G+ is sure to be high on their list as they strive to emulate Facebook’s success.
Many of the Google staff are expected to transfer to Google+, the ambitious social network launched in invitation-only beta in June. According to industry calculations, Google+ hit 20 million users within three weeks of its launch.
Google has not said when it plans to open Google+ to all internet users, but is expected to do so before the first half of next year.
Eustace added: “We’ve never been afraid to try big, bold things, and that won’t change. We’ll continue to take risks on interesting new technologies with a lot of potential. But by targeting our resources more effectively, we can focus on building world-changing products with a truly beautiful user experience.”
Read the official blog announcement here
