The End of iGoogle

How many of us have heard of iGoogle? No, we are not talking about G+. We are talking about iGoogle, the personalized news feed thing which was launched in 2005.

Google’s launched, in my personal opinion, many products which were either backward or lame in the past but iGoogle’s not one of them. When iGoogle was launched, it was the very first of its kind and quite revolutionary. For many people who are just into using the internet for….oh, I don’t know…just about everything in this modern day and age, iGoogle may not be anything useful. But for 2005, it was a pretty big deal. You get to load all of your feed in there, you have your calendar, your jokes, news, horoscope, quotes and if I do remember correctly, there was an option for you to have your games there too. Your stocks, currency, time and recipes were all there.

For 2005, it was quite AWESOME.

The death of iGoogle, however, is quite predictable in a sense that with the advent of online social media and mobile apps, it was headed for its grave anyway. The one thing that Google could have done to save iGoogle (if it was worth saving) was to mobilize it. And yet, through the years, Google did nothing to the news engine, leaving many of the feeds empty and unimproved.

And what happens when something is left on its own without further improvements? Yes, to put it crudely, it rots. This is year 2012 and things are moving at such a heady pace that if you don’t keep up, you are out of the game.

But let’s just think for a moment here what would indeed happen if there were major improvements to iGoogle. It would be far more powerful than Pulse, a mobile news app for Android and iOS. Pulse is an eye-pleasing news feeder that you can load on your mobile and tablet. It would be awesome if iGoogle made it to app, personally speaking. It would be your news feed to everything on the internet which includes all your personalized chosen stuff that you want to use and see. On-the-go too. It would have been awesome.

Apparently, Google has a different direction now and does not see a point in reviving iGoogle. Too bad. iGoogle will retire from the internet November 1st, 2012. For those of you who have long been online and know about iGoogle or have even used or tested the system out while it was at its prime, please say a word of RIP before then.