Google Announces Doom For iGoogle And Four Other Services

Google is shutting down five of its products as its ‘spring cleaning’ programme extends into the summer, the biggest casualty of which is personalised homepage iGoogle.

The personalised search homepage service will shut down on 1 November 2013, while Google Mini, Google Talk Chatback, Google Video and the Google Symbian Search app will be retired this summer.

iGoogle, therefore I’m canned

“Technology creates tremendous opportunities to improve people’s lives. But to make the most of them, we need to focus—or we end up doing too much and not having the impact we strive for,” said Matt Eichner, general manager of global enterprise search at Google. “So last fall we started a spring clean, and since then we’ve closed or combined more than 30 products. Today we’re announcing a few more closures.”

“We originally launched iGoogle in 2005 before anyone could fully imagine the ways that today’s web and mobile apps would put personalized, real-time information at your fingertips,” he continued. “With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for iGoogle has eroded over time, so we’ll be winding it down.”

All personal data stored in other Google products such as Gmail will continue to be available, while other gadgets such as the ‘to-do list’ will allow users to export information by choosing the ‘download all’ option under the drop down menu tired to the title. However users wanting to export data from third-party gadgets will have to contact the developer directly.

Outdated services

The writing has been on the wall for Google Video, a hosting service that predated Google’s purchase of Youtube. The service stopped taking uploads back in May 2009, and users now have until 20 August to migrate, delete or download their content, after which Google will transfer all remaining videos to YouTube. Private material will also be transferred, but will remain private and viewable in the YouTube video manager.

Google Talk Chatback, a feature which allowed websites to embed a Google Talk widget into their website is also being closed. Google says it’s outdated and that anyone wishing to embed such functionality should use the Meebo Bar, the only Meebo service to survive after Google acquired the company last month.

Google Mini, a small hardware/software appliance which was offered to index and search an organisation’s internal network is also being retired. Its functionality can be better provided by Google Search Appliance, Google Site Search and Google Commerce search, says Google.

Meanwhile, the Symbian Search App is being discontinued, preceding the ailing smartphone OS into oblivion. Users of the app have been advised to bookmark google.com instead, so that they can benefit from changes made to the mobile site.

“Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users,” said Eichner. “Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people’s lives.”

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