The NY Times on Google’s failed “Lively” services:
Google portrayed the move away from user frivolity as a sound business move. “It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business,” the company said on a blog post.
In the past Google has shown a willingness to let projects linger with a “beta” tag for months and months. But the virtual experiment was apparently not worth even that effort.
Oh snap. But this all seems somewhat familiar. An online world in which you can move around and get information. Oh yeah, Apple’s failed eWorld. Wikipedia:
Apple’s marketing and promotion efforts were at best indifferent. The service was only available on the Macintosh, along with e-mail only support on the Newton handheld. Apple was in a challenging financial position at the time and CEO Michael Spindler told the Online Services Group that significant marketing for the service could not be provided so eWorld shipped on new Macs with only an icon on the desktop and a brochure in the box. There was also little if anything in the way of media marketing for the service. The promised Windows version of eWorld was not launched following a decision by Apple’s senior management to position eWorld as a unique service for Macintosh owners.
Conclusion: Apple failed at the “virtual world” thing in the 1990s, and Google somehow missed it. Wait, they didn’t exist yet.
Oh wait, one more bit from the NY Times:
That said, large companies such as I.B.M. appear intent on investing in this type of technology, betting that it will one day lead to richer Internet experiences.
I think I know how it’ll go for them.