Yeah I've said that for years. Google have a serious tendency to just announce products, push them out the door and then forget they ever existed.

Then 3 years later we hear about them being closed down (due to lack of traction) and they get a whole load of bad press from all the people who actually did use it.

Any new product, even at a large company, should be thought of like a startup - in constant need of marketing.

True, May be Google is still stuck in old ways of Internet. When early adopters drove the adaption. But Internet, specially Web has become too mainstream and there is a lot of noise. So being dependent on just early adopters might not cut it. It needs to have a Growth-Hacker type mindset.

If only they had some sort of advertising channel.