Google has saddened early adopter everywhere today with its decision to shut down Google Labs, its incubator for newly conceived, half-baked products, which sometimes evolved into tasty new offerings from the software firm.
Bill Coughran, Google’s SVP for Research and Systems Infrastructure announced the news via blog on Thursday, reiterating CEO Larry Page’s promise to focus in on core products only for the time being.
“We’re prioritizing our product efforts,” said Coughran, adding “as part of that process, we’ve decided to wind down Google Labs.
“While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead.”
Coughran said that “in many cases, this will mean ending Labs experiments” though for others, the firm said it would try to incorporate Labs products and technologies “into different product areas.”
Android fans also don’t need to worry too much about their favorite lab experiment being pulled. “Many of the Labs products that are Android apps today will continue to be available on Android Market,” Coughran promised.
Closing Google Labs doesn’t mean the product isn’t still committed to innovation, though, according to the SVP, who said the firm would continue “to push speed and innovation” across all its products, as exemplified by the early launch of Google + last month. In-product experimentation channels like Gmail Labs or Maps Labs would also not be affected, said Coughran.
As well as killing off Labs, Google’s realignment to focus in on core products has resulted in a couple of other victims too, including Google Health and Google PowerMeter.
