Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Community guidelines
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
View
Popular
  • Amazon Prime Day Deals
  • Essential Hardware
  • Microsoft
  • AI
  • PC Gaming Show
Recommended reading
Google Chrome
Software Google's dominance in decline as its overall share of online search dips below 90% for the first time in a decade, and its desktop PC share is now below 80% and falling fast
Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California, United States on September 26, 2022.
Gaming Industry Google's logo has changed, and if the past's any indication, this might be the most expensive gaussian blur in history
Google campus sign
Hardware British regulator takes aim at Google's dominance with 'targeted measures to address specific aspects of how Google operates'
Google campus sign
Hardware The US DOJ recommends Google break up its ad-tech platform in light of illegal monopoly claims. Google disagrees, unsurprisingly
The Google Chrome logo intimidates Ripley
AI OpenAI exec tells judge hell yeah, we'd happily buy Chrome—and stuff it full of AI!
Seattle, USA - Jul 24, 2022: The South Lake Union Google Headquarter entrance at sunset.
AI Listening to Google's CEO talking about what about the future of AI holds just reinforces the fact that nobody can know what the future of AI holds
Close up of classic box art render of Gordon Freeman's face from Half-Life 2.
Platforms Steam's monthly top-seller list is automated now, and goes all the way back to 2004 when it's just Half-Life 2
  1. Software
  2. Browsers

Top 7 Google Successes and Failures

Features
By Chris Zele ( Maximum PC ) published 17 January 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The Good, the Bad, the Google

With a stock price of $1,149 at the time of this posting, it's safe to say that Google has been on a roll lately. However, having said that, the company has had its fair share of misfires. With Google recently purchasing Nest for a massive 3.2 billion dollars , quite the audacious move, we couldn't help but reflect on the company's greatest triumphs and tribulations over the years.

Below you will first see a listing of Google's seven greatest successes and failures. Let us know if you agree with our list in the comments section.

We start our story examining Google's seven biggest success stories.

Page 1 of 16
Page 1 of 16

Google Search: The term "googling" has become synonymous with online searching for a reason. The company was able to burst onto the search-scene in the late 90s by providing search results that were quick and relevant. Over time, the engine has only gotten smarter and with new features like Google Now voice search, finding answers is getting easier than ever.

Page 2 of 16
Page 2 of 16

Chrome: Google’s Chrome web browser launched in 2008 and since then has eaten up 40% of the world’s browser market share. The browser gave users a snappier web-surfing experience, a ton of awesome extensions, and has pushed Microsoft’s IE and Mozilla Firefox to step up their game.

Page 3 of 16
Page 3 of 16

Gmail: Like many Google products, Gmail started out as an invite-only application. Released in 2004, Gmail offered a then-unprecedented 1GB of free space per user and allowed for attachments to be up to 25MB per email (which was again massive for the time). As of today, it is the most popular web-based email provider with well over 400 million active users.

Page 4 of 16
Page 4 of 16

Google Drive: Google Drive gives users cloud-based storage to save, upload, and create documents/spreadsheets/presentations from the comfort of their browsers all for free. The service has been so popular that Google has tripled users’ storage capacity from the initial 5GB to 15GB. The fact that it integrates with Gmail is icing on the cake.

Page 5 of 16
Page 5 of 16

Android: The highly-customizable mobile operating system was released back in 2008. At the time, many people doubted Google’s Android could compete with Apple’s iOS, but five years later Android now has roughly 80% of the smartphone market. Google’s mobile OS has also expanded from not only smartphones but to tablets, wearable computing devices, and cars.

Page 6 of 16
Page 6 of 16

Google Maps: Google's map service is the number one map application used today for multiple reasons, chief among them are that it's accurate and offers a number of different route options spanning a wide variety of transportation means.

Page 7 of 16
Page 7 of 16

YouTube: YouTube was founded in 2005 by three former PayPal employees and was subsequently acquired by Google the following year. It proved to be one of the best acquisitions Google has ever made and now generates over one billion unique visits per month.

Page 8 of 16
Page 8 of 16

Now we move on to Google's 7 worst failures.

Page 9 of 16
Page 9 of 16

Google Buzz: Google launched a social networking site before its Google Plus service called Google Buzz. The networking site was so unsuccessful that it was discontinued after a year.

Page 10 of 16
Page 10 of 16

Dodgeball: Google purchased Dodgeball, a mobile social networking app which gave users a way to text their friends where they were or where they were going. The firm eventually killed off the mobile social networking software and re-launched it as Google Latitude.

Page 11 of 16
Page 11 of 16

Google Wave: Google’s Wave service started out as an invite-only online application and combined email, instant messaging, and social media into one package. The service ended and was handed over to Apache Software Foundation for open source development three years after hitting the market.

Page 12 of 16
Page 12 of 16

Google Answers: Google Answers came out one year after Yahoo Answers and was discontinued after four years. The service was based on users paying for answers they would receive by researchers and eventually fell to Yahoo’s free answers service.

Page 13 of 16
Page 13 of 16

Jaiku: Jaiku was a Twitter-like blogging service that Google purchased back in 2007. Google eventually conceded that nobody was really using the service and shut it down roughly a year ago.

Page 14 of 16
Page 14 of 16

Google Video: Google launched Google Video roughly the same time as YouTube, a then non-Google entity, back in 2005. It never took off as Google would have liked and this eventually lead to Google purchasing YouTube in 2006. The tech giant finally gave up on Google Video in 2009, when it disallowed users to upload video content to the service. Videos on Google Video were eventually ported over onto YouTube.

Page 15 of 16
Page 15 of 16

Google+: The social media platform that the search giant tried to shove down everyone’s throats. Google+ may have the second largest social media market share but that’s if you count Gmail and YouTube users that were forced to opt in. The amount of people we know that actually use Google+ are pretty much nonexistent and it's a real bad sign when Google has to force its social media service on users.

Page 16 of 16
Page 16 of 16
Chris Zele
Read more
Google Chrome
Google's dominance in decline as its overall share of online search dips below 90% for the first time in a decade, and its desktop PC share is now below 80% and falling fast
Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California, United States on September 26, 2022.
Google's logo has changed, and if the past's any indication, this might be the most expensive gaussian blur in history
Google campus sign
British regulator takes aim at Google's dominance with 'targeted measures to address specific aspects of how Google operates'
Google campus sign
The US DOJ recommends Google break up its ad-tech platform in light of illegal monopoly claims. Google disagrees, unsurprisingly
The Google Chrome logo intimidates Ripley
OpenAI exec tells judge hell yeah, we'd happily buy Chrome—and stuff it full of AI!
Seattle, USA - Jul 24, 2022: The South Lake Union Google Headquarter entrance at sunset.
Listening to Google's CEO talking about what about the future of AI holds just reinforces the fact that nobody can know what the future of AI holds
Latest in Browsers
BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 22: The logo of the webbrowser Google Chrome is shown on the display of a smartphone on April 22, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
Fresh zero-day vulnerability in Chrome found to be actively exploited by hackers in the wild
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft tweaks Edge to give it "significant performance improvements" though you're only getting up to 9% more oomph
Google Chrome
Security researcher claims 35 Chrome extensions with 4,000,000+ installs 'include some kind of spyware or infostealer'
Google campus sign
Google asks Trump's DOJ to please, please, please reconsider parting it from Chrome
ANKARA, TURKIYE - SEPTEMBER 06: In this photo illustration, Chrome logo is being displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of computer screen in Ankara, Turkiye on September 06, 2023.
uBlock and a handful of other popular Google Chrome extensions have been axed overnight, but some of them just require turning off and on again
Opera GX, Opera's gaming browser
Morbid curiosity made me swap from Chrome to Opera's 'gaming browser' but its early 2000s custom ringtone vibes give me the ick
Latest in Features
Three people holding guns
15 hidden gems in the Steam Summer Sale you've still got time to grab
Vault Boy jumping back in surprise as he looks at a malfunctioning monitor.
OLED burn-in anxiety will ruin my sanity long before it ruins my monitor
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 10: Phil Spencer, vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. speaks during Microsoft Xbox news conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Galen Center on June 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Thousands are expected to attend the annual three-day convention to see the latest games and announcements from the gaming industry. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Xbox bet that Game Pass would be the future of gaming, and we're all paying for it
Valerion 2025 prime day deal
Turn your wall into the ultimate PC gaming display with these Prime Day Valerion projector deals
Gunman Chronicles
What happened to the creator of Gunman Chronicles, Valve's forgotten FPS? 'My relationship with Gabe didn't really go that great'
A goblin with a crown smiling with a huge pile of money in Hearthstone.
Can you guess gaming's weirdest currencies in our latest quiz?
  1. Nvidia RTX 5090 and XFX RX 9070 graphics cards
    1
    Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards
  2. 2
    Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner
  3. 3
    Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer
  4. 4
    Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
  5. 5
    Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop
  1. An NZXT N7 Z890 motherboard on a desk with port covers removed.
    1
    NZXT N7 Z890 review
  2. 2
    NZXT N9 X870E review
  3. 3
    NZXT N9 Z890 review
  4. 4
    Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review
  5. 5
    Razer Joro & Basilisk Mobile review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...