This is what I love and hate about this company. They are not afraid to release products and then kill them shortly. They are no afraid to experiment. Keeps them looking like they are always innovating and ahead of the curve.
The unfortunate part is that as a software developer it does not give me a confidence in the logevity of any google platform. I have a friend who was gearing up to use the platform and was testing out an idea that he was hoping to launch soon. I bet he won't be as confident taking dependency on Google platform the next time.
True. That's why I said it keeps them "looking like" they are innovating. Failed or not, each small product or feature release gives them PR points. Look at +1, buzz or any other new products. They are all the rage when they are released. Everybody hails Google as the new king of innovation and when the products are killed a few months/years dows the line, the only people complaining are developers who took dependency on that product thinking it was a good long term platform bet.
> They are not afraid to release products and then kill them shortly.
During my interviews at Google I asked a lot of questions, and the answers I got gave me a very scary view of how the place really works.
The search and ads teams work in a magical castle high in the clouds. Almost everything else in the company is considered a fun side project. You are not supposed to think about making money, or being successful. Don't worry about getting users either, that will come as a side effect of being a Google project.
10% of the company accounts for 97% of the revenues ($30+ billion/yr). When you are in the 90% of the company that generates the 3% "other" revenue, its easy to get your project killed, or your engineering staff reassigned, etc. A $100 million dollar a year business unit does not move the needle at all, so you can never be sure of your future.
Correct me if I'm wrong but those revenue numbers wouldn't account for other products driving their ad revenue. Gmail probably isbresponsible for ablot of ad revenue but would be be considered as not moving the needle.
I think the ad revenue is so high because it's the end goal of nearly every "fun" product.
The unfortunate part is that as a software developer it does not give me a confidence in the logevity of any google platform. I have a friend who was gearing up to use the platform and was testing out an idea that he was hoping to launch soon. I bet he won't be as confident taking dependency on Google platform the next time.