Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) is an engineer's paradise. Besides having access to
millions of users and seemingly unlimited resources with about $42 billion in
cash the company has a unique philosophy. That is, an engineer can spend 20% of
his or her time on anything that's interesting. But the results can be and
have been messy. Even though Google's engineers are top-notch, they still
come up with some big duds. But at least the company knows when to call it quits
last week, Google announced that it is dumping some of these failures. One of
the aforementioned duds is Jaiku. Haven't heard of it? Well, you're not
alone. Other than having a tough name to remember, the social web app got little
traction. Google Jaiku allowed users to send updates to friends in a
microblogging format think Twitter. Except its not Twitter. Not necessarily
compelling when millions are using Twitter, as well as Facebook and even Googles
own G+ social networking service. Google also is giving up on another earlier
attempt at social networking, Buzz a service that did not live up to its name.
However, Buzz will not completely go away instead, it will be folded into
Google+, which has been growing like a weed (at last count, there were 40
million users). The recent axing of the weak is just the latest example of
Googles shotgun strategy, in which the company produces several hits and several
misses. Looking back at Googles history, theres been plenty more. Here are some
of Googles hits, misses and a couple projects whose final judgment still is in
the air: The Good The 20%-time approach has not just been a fun thing for
engineers. It actually has been the inspiration for a variety of game-changing
services, including Gmail and Google News. Gmail is the No. 3 email provider
with more than 190 users, and Google News gets about 7.9 million unique monthly
visitors, according to Compete.com. However, Google also realizes that it must
go beyond its own walls to find innovation. Granted, this strategy is risky.
Many other tech companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) and AOL (NYSE: AOL
) have had disastrous results with acquisitions. But for the most part, Google
has been successful. The company knows how to integrate engineering teams and
get them acclimated to the overall culture. Often, Google will focus on smaller
companies that have compelling technologies. This was the case with its
acquisition of Android back in 2005. The company's code became the basis of a
fast-growing mobile operating system. At last count, Android activated 190
million devices across the world, with revenues reaching $2.5 billion for 2011.
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