iGoogle Will Be Retired
Google announced on Tuesday that, with the aim of improving the overall Google experience and with the goal of making things simpler for users, it will retire a few more of the products it has to offer. Personalized homepage iGoogle is among the products that Google decided to retire – or discontinue, or close down, or however else you would like to call it.
Launched to the public seven years ago, iGoogle will be retired come November 1, 2013. One simple question comes to mind: why did Google decide to retire the personalized homepage. The simple truth of the matter is that there’s no need for iGoogle anymore. What was useful years ago has lost its usefulness.
Matt Eichner, General Manager, Global Enterprise Search, explains:
“On November 1, 2013, iGoogle will be retired. 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. 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. Users will have 16 months to adjust or export their data.”
Google started retiring products that are no longer need this autumn – and since then it closed more than 30 of its offerings.
Back in September Google announced that as part of an autumn spring-clean it will shut down the following products: Aardvark, Google Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Maps API for Flash, Google Pack, Google Web Security, Google Image Labeler, Google Notebook, Sidewiki, and Subscribed Links.
This July Google announced that as part of a summer spring-clean it will retire iGoogle, the product that lets users create a personalized homepage, and these other products: Google Mini, Google Talk Chatback, Google Video, and the Symbian Search app.
“Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users,” said Matt Eichner. “Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people’s lives.”
Launched to the public seven years ago, iGoogle will be retired come November 1, 2013. One simple question comes to mind: why did Google decide to retire the personalized homepage. The simple truth of the matter is that there’s no need for iGoogle anymore. What was useful years ago has lost its usefulness.
Matt Eichner, General Manager, Global Enterprise Search, explains:
“On November 1, 2013, iGoogle will be retired. 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. 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. Users will have 16 months to adjust or export their data.”
Google started retiring products that are no longer need this autumn – and since then it closed more than 30 of its offerings.
Back in September Google announced that as part of an autumn spring-clean it will shut down the following products: Aardvark, Google Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Maps API for Flash, Google Pack, Google Web Security, Google Image Labeler, Google Notebook, Sidewiki, and Subscribed Links.
This July Google announced that as part of a summer spring-clean it will retire iGoogle, the product that lets users create a personalized homepage, and these other products: Google Mini, Google Talk Chatback, Google Video, and the Symbian Search app.
“Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users,” said Matt Eichner. “Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people’s lives.”
