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5 of the Worst Products Google Ever

Since its debut in 1996, Alphabet Inc. commonly known as Google, has transformed itself from a simple search engine provider to a global advertising, cloud and software business. As of Aug. 26, 2016, the company was the second largest in the world by market capitalization behind Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL
). Google has enjoyed a great deal of success thanks to websites such as YouTube, and products, such as Google Docs, Google AdWords and the Google Chrome operating system.

Not every product, however, has been a hit. Some failures were quietly merged into newer products, while others were discontinued altogether. Some products were unsuccessful because they failed to replace or improve upon an already existing popular product, or simply failed due to faulty execution. Google is one of the most successful technology companies around, but these products didn't do much to help its reputation.

Google Answers

Google Answers was developed as a tool for individuals who wanted their internet surfing done for them. Google Answers allowed users to pose any question they wanted answered to the community and get responses. The incentive for answering questions was the possibility of receiving a small freelance fee in exchange for top answers. As the internet expanded to include much more rich and detailed information directly from the source, the concept of an internet middleman to provide answers to questions proved obsolete. Google discontinued the service in 2006.

Dodgeball

Acquired by Google in 2005, Dodgeball as a concept was actually ahead of its time, but lacked on the execution side. Dodgeball gave users the ability to use their current location to find friends, businesses and other interests nearby. Dodgeball founder Dennis Crowley was employed by Google in the acquisition, but left the company two years later frustrated with the lack of progress on the product. Crowley went on to found Foursquare. Google retired Dodgeball in 2009. Google developed Google Latitude with a similar goal in mind, but that product was also sent to the graveyard in 2013.

Jaiku

Google acquired Jaiku, a microblogging site designed to be a competitor to Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR
) in 2007. By the time Google put its resources behind Jaiku, Twitter was already the clear platform of choice. Google soon realized that Jaiku wasn't going to unseat Twitter, and open-sourced the tool just two years later. In late 2011, Google announced that it would be shutting down Jaiku altogether.

Google Video

Google Video was developed and launched in 2005 as a product that allows individuals to upload their own user-created video clips. The website gave users not only the ability to watch videos directly, but also to generate the necessary HTML code to embed videos into other media. The concept was similar to the more popular YouTube. Google Video, however, required unique file types and format creation, an additional layer of work for the user that negatively impacted the experience. In 2006, Google purchased YouTube, making Google Video an unnecessary duplication of efforts. The site ceased to host video content in 2012.

Google Wave

Google Wave was built as a communications platform that combined various media such as e-mail, instant messaging and social media all in one place. Results and reviews of the product were mixed. Wave's invite-only system gave it an air of exclusivity that initially drove up demand and anticipation. Although buzz for the product was high, the product never caught on. It was criticized for trying to do too many things at once, having a user interface that was complicated and failing to improve upon any of its standalone applications. Google stopped developing Wave in 2010.

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