Content from a WordStream article http://www.wordstream.com/articles/google-failures-google-flops

1. The Failed Google Graveyard

2. • Google X was a version of Google's classic homepage, modeled after the Mac OS
interface. Google even crafted a haiku saying, "Roses are red, violets are blue. OS
X rocks, homage to you." It's difficult to imagine Google honoring Apple today,
considering their continued rivalry. Google X only lasted one day, with Google
opting to stick with their tried and true layout.

3. Google Catalog
• Google Catalogs was a search engine for print catalogs, and struggled through
its seven years in existence before being shut down by Google, who finally
figured out that only internet illiterates continue to use catalogs.

4. Google Web Accelerator
• Google's downloadable Web Accelerator was a proxy server used to reduce web
access times via caching technology. The Web Accelerator had enough bugs and
privacy issues that it was put out of commission in 2008

5. Google Video Player
• That's right – Google use to have its own video player. The Google Video Player
was a standalone desktop application for playing Google video files. Despite
being branded with the Google name, the internet has never been short on
video players, and the Google Video Player was axed after a couple of years.

6. Google Answers
• Hoping to compete with the established Yahoo Answers, Google created its own,
creatively titled solution, Google Answers. Google Answers paid researchers for
in-depth answers, asking users to bid on answers to their questions. Users
ended up preferring to get their information free from Yahoo answers, even if
free often means unreliable

7. Google Wave
• It was once imagined that Google Wave would reinvent email, combining regular
electronic mail with instant messaging and social media. Despite the enormous
hype surrounding Google Wave, users found it too complicated and Google
Wave fell flat.

8. Google Wiki Search
• SearchWiki turned Google Search into a wiki. Users could log in and move
results up, down, or delete entries they didn't like. While Google searchers can
still star their favorite results and give preference to them, the other wiki
options were abandoned

9. Google Audio Ads
• Google Audio Ads, a radio-based advertising platform, was intended to offer the
powerful metrics of search-based advertising to broadcasters. However,
measuring performance proved too difficult, and so in 2009 Google Audio Ads
was tuned out

10. Google Dodgeball
• Dodgeball was a mobile social networking service that Google bought out in
2005. The founder of Dodgeball left Google and went on to start Foursquare,
the current leader in location-based check-in apps. Dodgeball was junked, and
Google went on to launch the mobile app Latitude, which is proving equally
unsuccessful

11. Jaiku
• Jaiku was a microblogging service similar to Twitter, with its posts resembling
haikus. Jaiku never quite took off, so Google has since opened-sourced the code
and no longer develops it.

12. Google Notebook
• Google Notebook was a browser-based application that let users cut, paste, save,
and share text, links, and images from the web to a personal "notebook." This
functionality has since been replaced by Google Docs, but really it's Evernote
who ended up taking this idea and running with it

13. Google Page Creator
• Google Page Creator was a tool designed to help users create web pages, which
were then hosted on Google's servers. Google halted the product in 2008 to
focus on Google Sites instead

14. Google Buzz
• Google Buzz was a social network that was another attempt to keep up with
Facebook and Twitter, serving as an opt-out service for Gmail users. Many users
were unhappy with Buzz, and it has since been disbanded.

15. Is Google+ a Failure?
• That depends on who you ask. Google's effort to compete with Facebook and
other social media networks, Google+, was launched in June 2011. Compared to
Facebook, it's just a baby. Although many complain that Google+ feels like a
ghost town, Google+ claims 100 million monthly users.
• Not bad, unless you are comparing it to Facebook's 900 million monthly users,
in which case Google vs. Facebook looks like a David vs. Goliath situation. We
won't be able to declare the ultimate victor until Google+ gets through the
tween stage, and with backing from the King of Search, Facebook shouldn't be
throwing a party just yet.

16. Google Knol
• Launched in 2007 to create web content formed by collaborating experts,
Google Knol project files were transferred to Wordpress before shutting down in
2012.

17. Picnik
• In March 2010, Google bought Picnik, one of the pioneers of cloud photo-
editing, but abandoned it for Google+. Picnik's more popular photo editing
features were integrated into Google+ photo editing..

18. Aardvark
• Google acquired Aardvark in 2010, aiming to have users answer one another's
questions, much like the more successful Quora.

19. Google Desktop
• Google Desktop was a program that allowed for text searches of a user's e-
mails, computer files, music, photos, chats, Web pages viewed, etc. As this
became standard in computer operating systems, Google disbanded the project.

20. Google Pack
• Google Pack was a software bundling and updating system that was started
and discontinued in 2006.

21. Image Labeler
• Google Image Labeler was a game that had users label random images, in an
effort to improve Google image results. Started in 2006, the project was shut
down in 2011.

22. Google Web Security
• Part of the Postini acquisition in 2007, this offered enterprise security and was
discontinued in 2011.

23. Google Gears
• Google Gears was a browser extension for creating offline web applications

24. Google Lively
• Lively consisted of web based virtual worlds that could be embedded into other
websites. It only lasted four months from when it was first launched in July
2008.

25. Google Checkout
• Checkout was an online payment processing service provided by Google that
aimed to simplify the process of paying for online purchases. Users could store
credit cards and shipping info on their Google Account, and could use the
stored info at participating web stores. Google Checkout was replaced by
Google Wallet on September 19, 2011.

26. Search Mash
• Search Mash let users reorder aka "mashup" their own search results by
dragging and dropping results. This project was a bit too much of success –
some people were content with this project, and used it as their default search
engine instead of Google. Google was none too pleased about this, since
SearchMash was ad-free at the time. SearchMash was axed in 2008 and replaced
with SearchWiki, who also was shutdown in its own due time.

27. Google Dictionary
• Google Dictionary was an online dictionary service, branching off of the Google
Translate service. The Google Dictionary website was terminated on August 5,
2011 after part of its functionality was integrated into Google Search using the
define: operator.

28. Google Health
• Google Health was a personal health information centralization service to store
and manage health records, introduced by Google in 2008 and closed in 2011.
The service allowed Google users to upload their health records to the Google
Health system, by either manually inputting information or by logging into their
accounts at partnered health service providers. The idea was to merge separate
health records into one central database, letting users easily capture and share
health information with different health practitioners. Retirement for Google
Health was announced in January 2012, due to lack of widespread adoption.

29. Google One Pass
• Google One Pass was created in 2011 and was an online store developed by
Google for publishers looking to sell subscriptions to their content. Google
announced the closure of One Pass in April 2012.

30. Google Videos
• Google Videos hoped to take a slice of the YouTube video pie, but it failed to
gather much attention. They say if you can't beat them, join them, and that's
just what Google did, buying out YouTube for $1.65 billion rather than
continuing with a lost cause.

31. Google SMS
• Google SMS was a free service for cell phone users who wanted to access
Google Search through mobile but did not have the means to. By texting to
46645 (GOOGL) what you would type in Google Search, Google SMS would
return a list of search results as a a series of text. Google SMS was shut down in
May 2013 without any warning, foreseeable due to the rise of smart phones.

32. Google Cross-Language Search
• Google Cross-Language Search was an advanced search tool that enabled users
to search for content in another language using keywords of the language they
were comfortable with. Cross-Language Search was discontinued due to the lack
of use by users.

33. Accreditation
• Article source: WordStream website