The goal of all Internet startups is so very predictable. Most of them want to be the next Google. And the rest of them want to gain some quick traction, so that they can be acquired by Google. And in turn, Google doesn’t disappoint them either.
As soon as there is a promising Internet startup in the radar, Google starts circling around it and snaps it up even before the competition calls a board meeting to ponder any such move. Now with Facebook in the mix, Google has only become more aggressive in snapping up more up-and-coming companies.
It’s good that Google captures the imagination of young entrepreneurs, but the rate at which they close the products and services is very alarming. Is Google becoming a graveyard of Internet startups?
The Backstory
I got the go ahead to write this article few weeks ago, but couldn’t get around to finish it up. But since then, Google has shutdown or announced the intention of shutting down a barrage of apps and services, some of which having a sizable following.
In the first batch, Google announced that it would be closing down the Toolbar for Firefox and Google Labs. The toolbar was a really useful addition a long while ago, but with a built in search box and the advent of feature rich cloud based bookmarking apps, it isn’t anymore. And the occasional allegations of Google’s clandestine data collection habits with the toolbar made this decision not much of a surprise.
Google Labs
A few interesting apps have come out of Google Labs, but there aren’t any mind blowing experiments in progress right now. And since Google has stated that the 20% time that allows employees to work on things that catch their fancy will go on, and the presence of a separate labs section in Gmail, reassures that innovation across the board is still in play!
Google Pack is another semi popular product that made the spring cleaning list. Google states that the rise of web apps resulted in poor adoption of the pack. In reality, the Google pack was full of average and below average apps and they ignored a whole lot of open source pioneers from the offering. If you really miss it, try Ninite instead, as it’s my personal favorite way to install a number of high quality apps at once.
Why Aardvark and Google Desktop?
One I couldn’t believe was going to be killed was Google’s Desktop search app. While not used by many, Google desktop is the first mass market app to bring comprehensive search options (thanks to the powerful indexing feature) to the desktop. Remember how horrible searching for stuff in Windows XP was? Microsoft has since then changed its ways with Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems, thanks to Google Desktop!
Google justifies this butchering by saying that the app will be replaced by the Chrome OS. Since the future of computing is clearly moving away from conventional desktops and laptops, it’s wishful thinking that they can pull an Android with this operating system as well. Very funny! Plus, there’s still no simple way to search through all of your personal data in Google’s cloud apps the way you could your local files with Google Desktop.
Aardvark
Then, another product to be killed is Aardvark, a Q&A service and social search engine that Google bought in 2010. I reviewed Vark last year and, while a bit on the geekier side, the app was very usable and was (still is) way better than Quora, the elitist club whose 15 minutes of fame is largely over. Hope the algorithm behind Vark shows up in Google+ in some form.
What is the rationality?
From the fates of Dodgeball to Slide and Aardvark, Google does come out as too trigger happy with the acquired apps. But they do pay a lot of attention and spend billions to make some acquisitions successful too. Case in point – YouTube and Writely (now Google Docs).
It’s true that some of the startups are bought by Google just to ensure that their competitors don’t get to swoop them. And at times, they buy a company for the underlying technology or the talent behind it. In comparison to Microsoft or other competitors, Google does a better job of either open sourcing (Android, Web M, etc.) or integrating acquisitions into the core.
And then there is the official claim that they want to focus on products that really matter. Whichever the claim it might be, there is no denying that there will be a number of new additions to Google’s arsenal in the near future and a few of the less competent ones among the lot will visit the deadpool soon enough. Now doesn’t that sound just like life itself?