Over the years we have seen Google shelves products that creates good following but does not make enough money for them. I liked Google Reader, Google Talk and when Google shelved Notebook and wanted people to switch to Keep, I instead opted for another product.
Today Google announced that they are shelving the consumer version of Google+ because of compromised private profiles of many users. Also they reasoned that people do not spend enough time on average accessing it. Less time also means less ad revenue for Google. Instead of fixing the security issues they opted for closing the product altogether.
Many other big developers like Microsoft keeps products for a long time even after they stopped development on it and then merge them to more popular products, like Hotmail to Live and MSN to Bing.
This practice of google will make consumers more suspicious to adopt new products from them for the pain of leaving them when they started liking and getting used to them.
SK Dutta is a software architect and creator of OfficeClip Suite of products. He loves to design and develop software that makes people do their job better and more fun. He always explores ways to improve productivity for small businesses. He is also an avid reader in many areas, including psychology, productivity, and business.