Internet search giant Google has announced the gradual closure of some of its non-performing services. The first one on the list is Google’s offer to personalize one’s home-page i.e. iGoogle . The idea was to let users customize options for their landing page with widgets, apps & notifications. However, owing to lack of adoption, the service which started in 2005, will be closed down completely in 2013. The second service which is facing termination is Google Video earlier attempt to rival video-sharing service Youtube. Though eventually Google bit the bullet & bought Youtube for a staggering sum of US$1.65 Billion in 2006, it continued its own iteration. Users of the defunct service will be offered to download, migrate to YouTube, or completely delete the videos. Thankfully, migrated videos will be tagged as Private unless the user specifies otherwise. Over the years Google has killed many of its own services . This was to done in order to achieve operational efficiency & curtail expenditure on non-performing assets which transformed into liabilities. Earlier, Google’s attempt to rival Twitter with Google Buzz & later on Wave failed. However, this time around Google’s CEO Larry Page is not attributing the closure of the services to their failures. He claims the same is being done to stay ahead of redundancy. Whatever the reason are, some additional services that will be closed down include enterprise appliance Google Mini , Google Talk Chatback, a Google Talk widget for websites & Google’s Search App (basically bookmarks) for Symbian . Since mobile Operating System (OS) Symbian itself will be gradually abandoned , this one makes sense. As Google+ , the company’s own Social Networking hub continues to under-perform against the current king , Facebook , will it face the axe soon? What additional services from Google do you think could be shut-down? Do share your views in the comments. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency
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