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Google Video Uploads, Jaiku, Dodgeball All Closed; Is GrandCentral Next?
Danny Sullivan is reporting that Google is closing a number of services including Dodgeball and Jaiku. Google acquired Jaiku in late 2007 and noted at that time, "Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users. Jaiku’s technology and talented team are a great addition to Google’s current application and mobile teams."
Google hasn’t seemed to move Jaiku forward since their acquisition. I’ve never really used Dodgeball so I can’t comment on that side. Google lost a great opportunity for activity streaming with Jaiku.
The other big announcement is that within a few months you won’t be able to upload any videos to Google Video. In their blog post announcing the change, they note that current videos will still live on Google Video. I’ve wondered why they have kept Google Video around this long. My bet is by the end of the summer, those videos will be moved to YouTube.
I am wondering if GrandCentral will be next to go. There has been basically no activity on the service since Google took over and I’ve noticed several technical issues that have seemed to go unresolved. They haven’t opened the service to the public and they removed all invites as well. I really hope GrandCentral isn’t next – it’s a great service that has potential in the telephony market. (if it does close, I want the domain name!)
Oh man they better not close GC. That’s suppose to be my number for life! It’s the only number I give out. However… ugh… it doesn’t look good. I fully expected an iPhone app by now. I was totally surprised not to see an Android integration. I figured early on in “gPhone” folklore that mobile integration was the whole reason for the acquisition.
Oh well. Keeping my fingers crossed. GC has potential.
If they close GC, they need to give like a year of advance notice. I’m currently job hunting, and I have placed my GC number on lots of resumes.
They could start by…
1. Actually integrating it into Google.
2. Giving GrandCentral a better name; maybe in theory it used to be a “good name” but I think there’s just something about it that’s slightly ‘blah’ & nondescript. How ’bout simple English: “Google Phone Manager”, “Google Phone Center”, “Google Communication Manager”, “Google Communication Center”, etc.
3. The obvious name “Google Phone Manager” would tell regular people (who don’t spend their time reading about every obscure service/startup) what it is. That alone would really pique interest. “Cool, so I can manage my phones? *click*”
4. After the new name, actually market/present it through Google’s services. …Especially services businesses use like Google Apps, AdSense/AdWords and Maps/reviews, to actually get businesses & people paying for accounts.
Google would have to be pretty shortsighted to not be planning the above route.
Ideally, it’d be great if people could keep/transfer (any) phone number — so nothing is dependent on GC service existing or not — like you can with mobile phones, toll free numbers, or even domain names: a real registry. That’s probably the future once most things are VoIP, but land lines are still important.
Anyway, the fact that people even have to /worry/ that GC could go away so easily is the #1 reason it will fail. Who’s going to bother using a GC number if it won’t be there in the future? GC is good. I’ve got a GC #. But I don’t use it. I won’t until I can actually trust that it’ll be there.