Google to shut down Google Video

Google has plugged-off support for the erstwhile Youtube contender, Google Video, adding it to the list of other failed Google products like Wave, Google Tags and Google Notebooks and Mashup Editor.

TechCrunch reported that Google in an email to users stated that it will not host videos on the website from April 29, 2011, and requested those users who have uploaded videos on the site to reload them on Youtube.

Google initially stalled uploads on Google Video in 2009. Google had launched Google Videos in 2005 as an answer to viral video site YouTube. However, after acquiring YouTube in 2006, Google Videos has become a strategically redundant option for Google.

TechCunch also reported that Google killed its Tags service this month, which allowed local businesses to enhance their visibility on Google Maps and Places.

In 2010, Google also plugged-off support for its collaboration tool Wave which it had launched with much aplomb in 2009 at a conference for Google developers. The reason cited for the demise of Wave was that it had not garnered sufficient user adoption.

Other projects which have been discontinued by Google are Dodgeball, a location-based service, Google Notebook, a web app which enabled users to organize content while conducting online research, Catalog Search, an optical character recognition-based service and Google Mashup Editor, an online mashup creating service.

The list reveals Google's strategy to continue to innovate irrespective of a business model around a product. However, the cost of maintaining teams to constantly innovate can be seen in Google's first quarter earnings. Ovum lead media and broadcast technology analyst Adrian Drury said in a note to clients that its earnings are getting hit by a jump in its wage bill.

Operating costs are up to $2.84 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54 percent with a major share coming from growth in its overall headcount and the 10 percent increase in salary across the board for all Google employees.

Talent retention has been cited as the primary cause of higher wage bills. Google's attempt to keep the innovation juggernaut rolling requires talent. Albeit keeping projects rolling without a significant revenue-model around the products will continue to spike Google's operating costs. Thus, doing away with Google Video could be its focus on streamlining its non-viable projects.