Google has continued to streamline its services by dropping a number of products that it feels are not gaining enough users.
One of the services to go this time is Google Video for Business. This service enabled Apps for Business and Education users to share video content internally, but from this autumn the service will be rolled into Google Drive. The search giant said Drive has the same storing and sharing capabilities and all videos will be migrated over for free. Any videos that are transferred will not count against a user’s Google Drive storage allowance.
Also going is Google Apps for Teams, which allowed business or education users who do not have a Google account to collaborate over non-email applications such as Google Docs, Calendar and Talk. The company said this service "was not as useful for people as we originally anticipated."
Google will shut down its Apps for Teams service in September and provide all users with a Google account, enabling them to continue to use the services.
The company will also be shutting down its Listen podcast services, due to the huge number of alternatives available in its Play Store app marketplace.
Finally Google also announced it would be reducing the number of corporate blogs it operates. It will be closing some of the less popular of the 150 or so blogs it runs.
"Over the past year, we’ve made changes to around 50 products, features and services — donating, merging and shutting things down so we can focus on the high-impact products that millions of people use, multiple times a day," Max Ibel, director of engineering, said on Google’s official blog.
"Technology has the power to change people’s lives. But to make a difference, we need to carefully consider what to focus on, and make hard decisions about what we won’t pursue. This enables us to devote more time and resources giving you products you love, and making them better for you," Ibel added.
Over the last year or so Google had closed a number of services. Included on this list are Google Sync for BlackBerry, its Wikipedia alternative Knol, iGoogle, Google Desktop as well as its failed social network forays, Buzz and Wave.
