3 ms·

When did Google ever pivot?

by BoredPositron 1y ago

ethbr1 1y ago
Social. User-facing AI.
- earth2mars 1y ago
  Social: YouTube User facing AI: Gemini, Google photos, NotebookLM and plenty of products.
chubot 1y ago
I haven't followed that closely, but Gemini seems like a pivot based on ChatGPT's market success Google is leading in terms of fundamental technology, but not in terms of products They had the LLambda chatbot before that, but I guess it was being de-emphasized, until ChatGPT came along Social was a big pivot, though that wasn't really due to Pichai. That was while Larry Page was CEO and he argued for it hard. I can't say anyone could have known beforehand, but in retrospect, Google+ was poorly conceived and executed --- I also believe the Nth Google chat app was based on WhatsApp success, but I can't remember the name now Google Compute Engine was also following AWS success, after initially developling Google App Engine
- sabas123 1y ago
  Is it really such a pivot when they invested a lot in AI already? They bought DeepMind in 2014 and always showed of a ton of AI research.
- itsoktocry 1y ago
  >I haven't followed that closely, but Gemini seems like a pivot based on ChatGPT's market success "AI" in it's current form is already a massive threat to Google's main business (I personally use Google only a fraction of what I used to), so this pivot is justified.
swiftcoder 1y ago
https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com
- devin 1y ago
  None of these are pivots. The core business has always been the core business.
  - swiftcoder 1y ago
    If you are defining "pivot" as "abandon all other lines of business", then no, none of the BigTechs have ever pivoted. By more reasonable standards of "pivot", the big investment into Google Plus/Wave in the social media era seems to qualify. As does the billions spent building out Stadia's cloud gaming. Not to mention the billions invested in their abandoned VR efforts, and the ongoing investment into XR...
    - msabalau 1y ago
      G+ was a significant effort that was abandoned. I'd personally define that as Google hedging their bet's and being prepared in case they needed to truly pivot, and then giving up when it became clear that they wouldn't need to. Sort of like "Apple Intelligence" but committing to the bit, and actually building something that was novel, and useful to some people, who were disappointed when it went away. Stadia was always clearly unimportant to Google, and I say that as a Stadia owner (who got to play some games, and then got refunds.) As was well reported at the time, closing it was immaterial to their financials. Just because spending hundreds of millions of dollars or even a few billion dollars is significant to you or I doesn't mean that this was ever part of their core business. Regardless, the overall sentimentality on HN about Google Reader and endless other indisputably small projects says more about the lack of strategic focus from people here, than it says anything about Alphabet.
    - veidr 1y ago
      Well, "pivot" implies the core business has failed and you're like "oh shit, let's do X instead". Stadia was just Google's New Coke, Apple's Mac Cube, or Microsoft's MSNBC (or maybe Zune. When they can't sell ads anymore, they'll have to pivot.

When did Google ever pivot?

ethbr1 1y ago

Social. User-facing AI.

earth2mars 1y ago
Social: YouTube User facing AI: Gemini, Google photos, NotebookLM and plenty of products.

chubot 1y ago

I haven't followed that closely, but Gemini seems like a pivot based on ChatGPT's market success Google is leading in terms of fundamental technology, but not in terms of products They had the LLambda chatbot before that, but I guess it was being de-emphasized, until ChatGPT came along Social was a big pivot, though that wasn't really due to Pichai. That was while Larry Page was CEO and he argued for it hard. I can't say anyone could have known beforehand, but in retrospect, Google+ was poorly conceived and executed --- I also believe the Nth Google chat app was based on WhatsApp success, but I can't remember the name now Google Compute Engine was also following AWS success, after initially developling Google App Engine

sabas123 1y ago
Is it really such a pivot when they invested a lot in AI already? They bought DeepMind in 2014 and always showed of a ton of AI research.
itsoktocry 1y ago
>I haven't followed that closely, but Gemini seems like a pivot based on ChatGPT's market success "AI" in it's current form is already a massive threat to Google's main business (I personally use Google only a fraction of what I used to), so this pivot is justified.

swiftcoder 1y ago

https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com

devin 1y ago
None of these are pivots. The core business has always been the core business.
- swiftcoder 1y ago
  If you are defining "pivot" as "abandon all other lines of business", then no, none of the BigTechs have ever pivoted. By more reasonable standards of "pivot", the big investment into Google Plus/Wave in the social media era seems to qualify. As does the billions spent building out Stadia's cloud gaming. Not to mention the billions invested in their abandoned VR efforts, and the ongoing investment into XR...
  - msabalau 1y ago
    G+ was a significant effort that was abandoned. I'd personally define that as Google hedging their bet's and being prepared in case they needed to truly pivot, and then giving up when it became clear that they wouldn't need to. Sort of like "Apple Intelligence" but committing to the bit, and actually building something that was novel, and useful to some people, who were disappointed when it went away. Stadia was always clearly unimportant to Google, and I say that as a Stadia owner (who got to play some games, and then got refunds.) As was well reported at the time, closing it was immaterial to their financials. Just because spending hundreds of millions of dollars or even a few billion dollars is significant to you or I doesn't mean that this was ever part of their core business. Regardless, the overall sentimentality on HN about Google Reader and endless other indisputably small projects says more about the lack of strategic focus from people here, than it says anything about Alphabet.
  - veidr 1y ago
    Well, "pivot" implies the core business has failed and you're like "oh shit, let's do X instead". Stadia was just Google's New Coke, Apple's Mac Cube, or Microsoft's MSNBC (or maybe Zune. When they can't sell ads anymore, they'll have to pivot.