There is no company in this world which did not fail in product launch. But when they try more and more as Google they get succeeded also in their product development. But also there are some epic fails that people also remember as the past. Google products that failed are also a topic of past, but people also wanted to know about the failure of Google products.

Here are the 14 biggest product flops in Google history:

14>> Google Web Accelerator

Google Web Accelerator

Life: 2005 – 2008

Feature: So to speed up the page loading time while browsing, Google introduces Google Web Accelerator for users help. But this product got too many bugs even the YouTube videos was not playing and loading well. That’s why this product was abandoned in the year 2008.

13>> Google Offers

Life: 2011 – 2014

Feature: So this was also Google products that failed. Basically, as its name, this product was launched for Groupon’s daily-deals heyday and some social livings. But as the trend goes down this google offers also gone down.

12>> Google Video

Google Video

Life: 2005 – 2009

Feature: In the year 2005, Google plans to develop Google Video for free video upload – when YouTube was also about to launch. But after a later, the tech giant Google failed to promote this product and did not gain attraction. Then Google moves the path for purchasing YouTube for $1.65 Billion. As of June 2021, YouTube had over 2.3 billion monthly active users. Google Video was also one of the top Google products that failed.

11>> Jaiku

Google Jaiku

Life: 2007 – 2012

Feature: Just like Twitter, Jaiku was a kind of micro-blogging site that was developed in Finland and eventually bought by Google itself in 2007. Messages sent by this app was known as “Jaikus” the same as a tweet. But due to lack of user interest, Google has to announce its retirement in 2009 and made the code open source.

10>> Google Health

Google Health

Life: 2008 – 2012

Feature: Basically, Google health was a kind of tool where it takes the users health data. Then convert that data into a health record that was easy to understand by the health workers. But due to some user’s data privacy issues and it was not considering the covered entity under HIPAA. And also Microsoft was in the competition that’s why Google have to through back this product.

9>> Google Answers

Google Answers

Life: 2002 – 2006

Feature: The Google search which we are seeing and using today, There were Google Answers used to submit questions for example ( How much Sun is far from earth? ). And also it showed a dollar price which will be given for an answer, for example, this question can have a bounty of $5. This platform was mainly developed for researchers who can earn up to $2 – $200 for every answer. Google also takes its share but due to no more interest from users, this product also pushed to the list of Google Products that failed.

Also, there was Google Questions and Answers before the Google Answers, and this service is for employees of Google. Where they used to answer the user’s questions and Google paid them $3 for each answer. It was also closed in 2001 when they receive 1 question in a single day.

8>> Google X

Google X

Life: March 16, 2005

Feature: This is a product by Google which only survive for One day in the History of Google. Google X was also an alternative interface for Search, which allowed their user to search based on Local, Images, categories and groups. This product was quite similar to macOS dock (Apple). But now this product is repurposed for Google’s research arm for moonshot projects. These were also Google products that failed in the internet industry.

7>> Google Buzz

Google Buzz

Life: 2010 – 2011

Feature: Google Buzz was the combo of social media and instant messaging platforms. Here it allows its users to share posts, videos, photos, links, statuses and etc. But later these features of conversations were attached within Gmail. So Google Buzz was turned on for their Gmail Users by default because that was not yet ready for any prime product. But due to the lawsuit file against Google Buzz for users privacy, Google has to close this within 18 months.

6>> Google Lively

Google Lively

Life: July 2008 – December 2008

Feature: This product was closed in half of the year, This was a website based cartoon-like interface which was kind of similar to “Second Life”. This was also described as Lively by New York Times for their chat rooms. But Google thought that it is going far from our real motives that are Google Search, Advertisement etc. So this is how Google products that failed list got one more family as Google Lively.

5>> Knol

Google Knol

Life: 2008 – 2012

Feature: Knol project by Google was a copy of Wikipedia and also with similar font and features. The full form of Knol given by Google was “Unit of Knowledge”, where it was thought that users will post articles here but due to lack of interest by the users, this has to close also.

4>> Dodgeball

Google Dodgeball

Life: 2005 – 2009

Feature: This product was purchased by Google itself in the year 2005, Dodgeball was a service-based app that provides users to check in at any location via text message. But due to not paying too much attention to it by Google, Dodgeball co-founders left in 2007. And they started another startup named Foursquare in 2009 and shut down it the same year. And send it to Google products that failed Family list.

3>> Google Glass

Google Glass

Life: 2012 – TBD

Feature: This product was launched before its time because now in today time people want to connect their all internet existence with a single device like Google Assistance, Google Glass, earpod etc.

But due to the software issue in Google glass and its too much price ( $1500 per pair ) So it needs many changes and it has limited their production and rolling out some advanced version of it.

2>> Nexus Q

Google Nexus Q

Life: Never actually made it to consumers

Feature: Just like today, we use Amazon TV fire stick, Google Chromecast and Roku to play Google Music, YouTube videos and YouTube on TV, Nexus Q was one of them. This was a video streaming platform for televisions.

Google Nexus Q was first revealed at the Google I/O 2012 conference of developers. And its price was $299 but from the reviewer’s point of view and due to its fewer features in this price. These products also failed and added to the list of Google products that failed.

1>> Google Wave

Life: 2009 – 2012

Google Wave

Feature: Created by the same engineers who built Google Maps, Google Wave was an ambitious attempt to re-imagine email.

Google Wave allowed users to build and collaborate on documents — or “waves” — where images, video clips, polls and more could be included. Eager users were quickly confused by Wave and active development on the product ended in 2010. If you’re still interested in how Google Wave worked, here’s an hour and twenty-minute product demo that explains it all.

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