Google Reader– The boring truth

Google Reader has gone because it is not big enough. That’s all.

• The retirement of Google Reader has nothing to do with the “free” internet model and everything to do with its size.
• A common view out there is that Google is retiring Reader because it is free and are using the example to dish the “free” internet / software model.
• Unfortunately the reality is much more boring.
• Google Reader is a niche product that has not been invested in for some time and is now obsolete.
• Other services like Google Currents offer a much richer and nicer way to scan the news and as a result there is no real reason to keep it going.
• Smaller niche players are already beavering away to come up with replacements so that users (like myself) will have more than one alternative come July 2013.
• As for the “free” model, this remains alive and very well as the growth figures for Facebook’s and Google’s advertising revenues show quarter in, quarter out.
• There remain two ways to pay for the Internet: crisp, hard cash or personal data.
• Given that cash is an ever scarcer commodity these days, I suspect that the majority of the internet will be financed via the free, personal data model.
• I suspect that when it came down to it, Google looked at Reader and saw that the numbers of people using it were too low to justify the cost of running and hosting the service.
• If only Google would think like this when it came to buying useless assets, then I would be a much happier investor.
• A billion dollar London HQ, Motorola Mobility and half of an airport in California all leap to mind as useless assets that have no business being part of Google.
• These are all signs of a company that is run for the benefit of the employees rather than shareholders and such companies inevitably come a cropper sooner or later.
• I love the business of Google; I just think management needs to rethink its priorities and how it spends other people’s money.