I love most things Google, but they have had their share of flops. I think my uber-love of Google is starting to lessen. I’m not sure I would say they are abandoning their “don’t be evil” mantra, but they have been childish and borderline deceptive in some of their recent PR. They seem to be overly-celebrating minor innovations to their suite of services–most of which have been available on other services for years. Also the accusation of Bing copying their results leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I’d like to expand on the list at some point and add in my layman’s reasons why these have failed. Some are newer, and some are predictions as well:
Wave
Buzz
Latitude
Latitude Check-In
Notebook
Orkut
Knol
Google Video
Google Answers
SearchWiki
SideWiki
Google Catalogs
Print Ads
Page Creator
Audio Ads
Friend Connect
6/24/11: Google Health
6/27/11: Google PowerMeter
7/29/11: Google TV (prediction)
10/14/11: Google Buzz was a prediction (above), confirmed today.
11/2/11: Google Sidewiki was a prediction (above), confirmed today.
11/22/11: Google Bookmarks Lists
11/22/11: Google Friend Connect was a prediction (above)
11/22/11: Google Wave was a prediction (above)
11/22/11: Knol was a prediction (above)
11/22/11: Google Gears
9/6/12: Google TV Ads
3/1/13: Google Reader REALLY!?!?
7/10/13: Latitude and Latitude Check-In, was a prediction (above)