Digital Graveyards: Secrets from Google, Amazon and Microsoft Cemeteries
How Tech Giants Remember Their Fallen Apps!
Google Hangouts was an instant messaging app. I remember it fondly as it was my first high school group chat app before WhatsApp came with an increased limit of 60 members in a group. I used to love the interface of Hangouts and how we could send funky stickers to each other!
As I walked down this memory lane, I decided to revisit and download this app to take a shot and chat with my High School buddies. Only to find the app and the page no longer exists in the Google domain! A little dig-in got me to light that hangout was killed and buried by Google in 2022! As sad as it made me, I know that this isn’t new in the digital landscape.
The tech landscape is evolving at a high rate and the tech giants spend their resources only where there is a high profit margin and scope to evolve as per the market needs. No wonder they all have pushed their boundaries to jump into the game of AI. The point is all the tech giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL push their boundaries of possibility. But not everything works! Some ventures inevitably meet their end, leaving behind a digital graveyard of retired apps and services.
I decided to delve into how companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have created these digital cemeteries, exploring the stories behind their discontinued offerings and reflecting on their impact on the tech world.
Google Graveyard
We all know Google and its bold experimentation across domains!
Google has a history of launching innovative apps. However, not all of these ventures stood against the test of time. Google Graveyard is a place where all these discontinued apps and services by Google reside and tells a story about their demise. Each of these has a tombstone that tells the date of their being in function and the ill-fated story of how they left the world.
Remember Google+ ? This Google social network was aimed to rival Facebook but ultimately fell short. Before its demise, it struggled a lot to compete with established social media platforms.
Another interesting thing out there is Google Wave, the collaborative platform that promised to revolutionize communication but failed to gain audience trust. This was because of its complex interface and unclear value proposition.
While not every project may have succeeded, each one has contributed to Google’s evolution as a tech powerhouse.
Amazon Graveyard
We all agree that Amazon is a titan in e-commerce!
Amazon constantly pushes its boundaries to make its e-commerce platform better and more user-friendly. However, Amazon tried a lot of things that didn't work in its favour. From hardware experiments to niche services, Amazon tried its hands across tech domains.
One such experiment was the Amazon Fire Phone- a smartphone endeavour that failed to gain traction in a crowded market.
I also encountered Amazon Destinations- the short-lived travel booking platform that aimed to disrupt the travel industry but ultimately fell short.
And who could forget Amazon Spark- the social shopping feature that failed to ignite interest among users.
Learn from Amazon’s +50 failures.
Microsoft Graveyard
If you are 90s born, this graveyard is your Nostalgia trip!
We all have used Microsoft computers at some point in time. And the 90s born could recall when I name applications like — MSN messenger, Internet Explorer, Minecraft Earth, and Windows Media Center. They all are Killed by Microsoft!!
The once-popular instant messaging platform, Windows Live Messenger was eventually phased out in favour of newer communication tools.
In the graveyard, I also encountered Zune- Microsoft’s ambitious foray into the world of digital media players, which failed to capture significant market share amidst fierce competition.
And who could forget Windows Phone, the mobile operating system that struggled to gain traction against dominant players like iOS and Android?
Why did these projects fail?
Among multiple factors that contributed to their demise, a few common ones are-
- Lack of user adoption
- Shifting Market trends
- Strategic Pivots
Your Take-Away:
Shifting technological landscapes, evolving user behaviours, and strategic missteps are just a few of the challenges that contributed to the downfall of these ventures.
So don’t just jump into the startup culture. Analyse the data and insights of the market and users, and make an informed future decision into innovation.
I tried doing a post-mortem analysis for some of the apps killed by giants. Do let me know your findings and share them in the comments below, or write to me at parul715@gmail.com.