That might make sense if they are a one to one equivalent. I think it is unlikely to be the case however. Losing a few million users of a niche product doesn't

That might make sense if they are a one to one equivalent. I think it is unlikely to be the case however. Losing a few million users of a niche product doesn't matter to Google if it wasn't a large revenue stream. Rolling out features that fit the Google+ scheme as they are ready makes more sense to me.