January 14th, 2009, marks the day that Google grew up.
In a coordinated series of blog postings Google announced its intention to scuttle a number of its poor performing products, let go of some staff and close some of its offices — showing that in 2009 it intends to focus on keeping costs down and make money. A wise decision in the current economic climate.
Some of the announcements from Google:
- Turning Down Uploads at Google Video
- Stopping development on Google Notebook
- Changes for Jaiku and Farewell to Dodgeball and Mashup Editor
- Farewell, Google Catalog Search
- Changes to engineering
- Changes to recruiting
Danny Sullivan has a more detailed round-up of today’s changes at Google.
Who knows what 2009 will hold for tech companies, but it goes without saying that whatever happens will be closely tied to what happens in the general economy.
There is (was?) a bubble in Silicon Valley — a bubble of innocence — and unfortunately 2009 looks like the year that will pop it.