A while ago, we did a video about some of the more interesting products that Google,
for better or worse, decided to kill off. But as many of you know, Google kills their own offerings off more frequently than the
employee at the business end of a slaughterhouse. So let's take another look at what else Google has put on the chopping block.
The first Google product we're looking at is something that's been in the headlines fairly recently, Google Play Music.
It ran for nearly 10 years and although it started mostly as a service to allow people
to store their own songs in the cloud and buy new ones, it later became a full-fledged
streaming service that competed with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
However, Google was already offering streaming music through another one of its own services,
YouTube. As the 2010s wore on, it became more common to find music on that platform, and in 2018,
Google launched YouTube Music, which includes a paid option to remove ads and enable background
listening. However, Google was paying to license music for two services instead of one.
So with YouTube being the more popular service, it no longer made sense to keep Google Play
Music around, meaning it got the axe in late 2020.
Now we get to learn a new app. That's worse. Yay!
The next one we'll be familiar to those of you who have ever looked for DIY home security.
I'm talking about the Nest Secure, which was a security system that competed with products
like Amazon Ring and Simply Safe. It was pretty full-featured with a base station and a keypad that frankly triggered my trypophobia,
window and door sensors, and professional monitoring.
But after about three years, Google deep-sixed the entire ecosystem in October 2020, though
they'll continue to support customers that already have a system installed.
Thanks guys! Part of the issue here may have been lack of demand.
Nest Secure was quite pricey compared to its competitors, as a starter kit with a base
and a couple sensors was 500 bucks.
And unless you lived somewhere like an apartment with minimal entry points, you needed to buy
expensive add-ons to have effective security.
Google actually partnered with ADT a short while before Axing Nest Secure, and although
ADT isn't exactly the most beloved company, Google may have thought there was more money
in providing hardware to a well-established security firm instead of trying to compete
on its own in a space where they were clearly getting undercut.
Too bad they got rid of that Do Not Be Evil slogan. That would have been a great one for a security company to have.
Let's move on and look at Google Fiber TV, the TV package you used to be able to bundle
with the Google Fiber Internet Service. For an extra fee, you could get what was essentially cable TV over fiber.
And although the now ubiquitous streaming services have eaten into the popularity of
cable and satellite subscriptions, a dedicated service that doesn't go over the internet
still has its advantages, which you can learn more about up here.
However, Google had to pay the companies that own the rights to popular cable channels
tons of money in order to carry them. In some cases, more than traditional cable companies were paying.
Additionally, fiber internet was so expensive to build out that Google stopped offering
it in new cities in 2016, so they had to find a way to cut costs.
And getting rid of fiber TV in February 2020 was an easy choice, given that Google already
offered its YouTube TV service that allowed customers to stream most of the same channels.
Let's wrap up this edition of Google Graveyard by looking at Pigeon.
And no, this wasn't an app that would wake you up with cooing noises.
Ah, what? This was supposed to be a ways-like app, but instead of traffic, you would get crowdsourced
updates on public transit. So news about delays on your route would be pushed to your phone, but you'd also get
notified about problems with escalators, unsanitary conditions, perhaps caused by pigeons, and
even if there's entertainment en route, things that will be familiar to anyone who's
ever visited New York City. It sounded like a great idea to fill in gaps that official information from the transit
services themselves couldn't. Even Google Maps doesn't include information that comprehensive if you try to plan out a
trip on mass transit. But then, of course, the pandemic hit.
And with it, mass transit systems around the world either significantly reduced service
or suspended it completely, making Pigeon a victim of colossally bad timing.
Pigeon went the way of the dodo. Hahaha.
That's a good one. In June 2020, but hopefully we'll see something like it again from Google in the future, considering
how people are increasingly viewing Google Maps as a tell me everything about the route
I'm on and where I'm going. Kind of service. But Google has killed off plenty of other interesting projects, so let us know what
you'd like to hear about in the next installment of this series. Until then, here's hoping that Google Gadget you just bought has a long and happy life.
That's it for this one, guys. Thanks for watching. Like if you liked it, dislike if you disliked it, check out our other videos, comment below
with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow.
I'll be watching.