The FTC Killed Google Reader

I suspected the kind of meritless FTC investigation of Google we saw the last 2 years, would end up killing services Google provided at no cost to users but which did not povide revenue.

Another Reason Google Reader Died: Increased Concern About Privacy and Compliance - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD: " . . . Nick Baum, one of the original Reader product managers who’s no longer at Google, noted that in the early days of the product there were “several millions” of weekly active users. In a conversation this weekend, Baum said, ”My sense is, if it’s a consumer product at Google that’s not making money, unless it’s going to get to 100 million users it’s not worth doing.” But Baum left the team in 2007 — before the rise of Twitter — and he notes Google never put the resources in to do things like help new Google Reader users find feeds to follow and parse the most interesting content from high-volume outlets. The irony, Baum said, is that if Google Reader were out seeking venture funding in Silicon Valley with its high-value audience, it most likely would have gotten it. “As a startup they would have been perfectly viable,” he said. Not to mention, startups don’t have to worry about compliance issues. “Someday someone will do something in this space that will work,” Baum said. “And maybe then Google will buy them.” (read more at link above)

Thanks a lot of FTC for killing (indirectly) Google Reader.


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