Just over a year ago, Google first announced Google Wave. Hype was huge! It was going to change communication from the ground up! Everybody wanted an invite!
And then we got a chance to use it. At S2EO, the team was quickly underwhelmed, and when Google offered up more invites, we literally couldn't give them away.
In January as part of S2EO's prediction series for the new year, our first prediction was that Google Wave would not catch on this year. We didn't predict its instantaneous death, because honestly, things often seem to limp to a slow death on the Internet. (Think of the web host Angelfire's "death" in 2009 - most people didn't even know it was still around.)
Well, it looks like that's right about to happen. Google announced this week they would stop development and support for Google Wave - effectively killing the non-existent "juggernaut."
Clearly, we're not surprised.
But what does this mean for Google? We already had quite a few questions about the viability of this project, and have wondered on numerous occasions if Google is spreading itself too thin (see here, here, and here), or if it's just not meant to be in the social arena (see here and here).
Don't get us wrong - there are a lot of things about Google - at S2EO use Blogger, Analytics, Adsense, Adwords, Gmail, YouTube, even persnickety Chrome - so is it just a matter of not every product can be gold? Or is it a matter of something bigger? For a fresh take, check out ifindkarma's insightful post about why Google cannot build a social application.
Do you agree? Disagree? Sense the beginning of the end for Buzz, or the ability to take over in Wave's place? Let us know in the comments below.
Not missing Google Wave- it stunk!
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