There was once a time where it seemed like Google might turn all that search money into a continuous stream of forward leaping services that made doing things easier. But beyond Gmail and Maps, there seems to be a big, foggy disconnect between Google and what people actually want and get excited about. Are they just lacking a visionary, or is something else at play?

They’re just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. Clearly for some reason a lot of things don’t stick.

Could it be because people don’t trust Google anymore? Who knows. That’s a problem for Google to solve. Meanwhile, I avoid any of their products I can avoid.

You are missing GCP. GCP is very popular among people and companies.

And how could you forget Google Play Store?

So it is not just "GMail and Maps".

CCP is also very popular among people and companies. Or the republican party. When you have money and power your popularity increases. That's why all the fines are mostly theater shows.

Apple makes money on its products; Google doesn't.

Yes it does. Otherwise these products wouldn't exist.

If it was making money, why was this product shut down?

Because it doesn't make enough money by Google's standards.

Possibly their corporate structure. Too many personalities working for their own good rather then the good of the whole.

I've used it a few times. It rarely had better prices than just googling outside the app did and there was no compelling reason to use it because it wasn't clear what data it was giving to vendors.

Sort of like their new app to scan and store all your personal docs as PDFs it just seems like a bald attempt to scoop up data they wouldn't otherwise have with little or no benefit to the user.

Google had a shopping app?

For lots of us the first time we hear about a Google software product is when we read that it is being shut down.

TIL Google had a shopping app.