Re:Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay ...
by Samuel_Michon on Thursday March 28, 2013 @06:39PM
(#5458138)
“with Reader the thought probably was "we will aggregate online content created by others and will add ads to the result. Then profit!" This was replaced with "we will aggregate social content, the add lots of ads. Then profit!"”
And why didn't they just do that? They gave no explanation whatsoever. Google Reader has/had millions of users, surely Google could've capitalized on that.
Re:Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay ...
by Kylekramer on Thursday March 28, 2013 @07:30PM
(#5458327)
Their explanation was usage was declining. And despite the fact Reader users are vocally upset, I have seen no evidence that contradicts that.
Re:Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay ...
by Samuel_Michon on Thursday March 28, 2013 @07:50PM
(#5458403)
After Google's announcement, Feedly announced they received 500,000 signups in two days, so apparently there were plenty of Google Reader users left.
I'm also willing to bet that if there was a decline in Google Reader users, it had something to do with the web app being neglected for so long and Google having taken away several useful features in the last couple of years.
Anyways, “usage was declining” was their argument for pulling the plug, but not an explanation of why they never tried to capitalize on the service.
Re:Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay ...
by mikeash on Thursday March 28, 2013 @09:31PM
(#5458766)
500,000 is the sort of number that is huge to a company like Feedly and can't even be distinguished from day-to-day noise in the statistics to a company like Google.
Re:Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay ...
by IheartApplesDix on Thursday March 28, 2013 @08:11PM
(#5458488)
Self fulfilling prophecy.
The thought with Express might go like this: "By pushing the envelope on buying things online, more people will buy thing online than offline, expanding the e-commerce universe. This would translate into higher advertising fees. Then profit."
In other words, they believe that expanding e-commerce will be more profitable than helping two dozen power users consume mostly as free content easier.