Yeah, I’m sure there were some internal issues behind it but as a practical matter it meant that a lot of Google’s biggest fans were unable to try new services, often for as much as a year after launch. This was a staple comment on tech forums and I think it was a factor in their reputation faltering, similar to how Reader was especially impactful because so many journalists, tech bloggers, etc. used it. Losing the people who used to get their friends and family on board was probably not worth whatever they saved delaying that work.