Google fail

It's incredible to think that Google is a company that is only just 10 years old. While Google has grown rapidly, it has invested and acquired various other companies. This has given them a service portfolio that dominates the Internet, it has also produced some high profile failures. I've pointed out a few of these below:

Google fail #01
Google Videos
A nasty user experience and content that is available elsewhere means this video service can be pointless. Comparing Google Video to Youtube highlights various problems with usability. The increase in competition in this area and country specialist video sites (Daily Motion), means that Google Video never really took off.

Google fail #02
Orkut
Since it's inception in 2004 Orkut has played second fiddle to Facebook and most of the other top social networking sites. With less of a targeted, niche audience, Orkut fell by the wayside while bands and musicians clamoured for Myspace profiles and youngsters went for Bebo and everyone else got a facebook account.

Google fail #03
Google Print Ads
Google attempted to offer traditional print based advertising via the Adsense service. The service was stopped on April 30th 2009 and is another reason why Newspaper and print based advertising is so weak. If Google cannot generate results for customers and revenue for the print advertising media, who can? It was an interesting idea, but is another tally on the list of Google fails.

Google fail #04
Google Talk
Launched in 2005 as a web based instant messaging client, Google aimed to take some of the market from Microsoft's Messenger program and AOL's AIM, Jabber and Yahoo! Messenger services. Users had little control over how their buddy lists details were controlled too.

Google fail #05
www.Youtube.com
Google acquired Youtube in November 2006 for £1.1Billion. Since then, Viacom have attempted to sue Youtube for $1billion for displaying copyrighted material. The very high running costs of YouTube (it is expected to lose £317 million in 2009) has prompted Google to plaster ads across the site wherever possible causing many complaints. I'm sure it can be turned into a great advertising platform in the long run, but for now, it remains a great way to waste time!