That's a very relevant point. I'd say that for about 4 or 5 years it was in a safe, stable zone in the product strategy, but for the past 3-4 it was a dead app walking. Those last 4 years also say Wave, Buzz and other very big, public launches of products that were killed within a year each.
Clearly Google saw that it was flinging spaghetti at the wall just to see what stuck and decided
1) be really careful about big public announcements, people get excited, the product doesn't deliver and we look bad then
2) refocus (even if I don't like the strategy, at least they have one, so this is good, assuming they really are focused)
The problem is that they are now gun shy about saying anything clearly, apparently.
It's like a teenager that buys a new outfit they really like and mentions it only casually because if they get rebuffed by the peers for wearing it, they can always claim they didn't like it that much.
Sometimes you have to just define your own style and wear the outfit, man. Be proud.
Clearly Google saw that it was flinging spaghetti at the wall just to see what stuck and decided
1) be really careful about big public announcements, people get excited, the product doesn't deliver and we look bad then
2) refocus (even if I don't like the strategy, at least they have one, so this is good, assuming they really are focused)
The problem is that they are now gun shy about saying anything clearly, apparently.
It's like a teenager that buys a new outfit they really like and mentions it only casually because if they get rebuffed by the peers for wearing it, they can always claim they didn't like it that much.
Sometimes you have to just define your own style and wear the outfit, man. Be proud.
That's what Google is missing.