The gist is, Google (and Microsoft) are brands that are already associated with "web-scale" software. So, if they make something new, people expect it to be engineered to be web-scale from the beginning, not a bloated prototype that relies on other tiny/bloated third-party services (and definitely not on services from their competitors.) I think this is just an image problem, though—couldn't Google get around this simply by not saying that the projects are "by Google" until they're popular? Publishers call this an "imprint."
Why Google can’t build Instagram
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Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#12meh, Instagram seems pretty useless to me. Google builds more cool stuff in an average month than Instagram ever has.
This is the key I think. For every instagram there are hundreds of half baked products that never make it past the initial stages (hell, I have tried to build a few..)
At Google such things often do get past the initial stages, and then flop. Even more probably gets shoved under the carpet.
Google are quite openly trying out the different projects, looking for a hit. Classic example; Gmail. Slightly different because that was a "hit" internally first, but the basic idea applies. A project that ended up working well, resources got thrown at it and, some hiccups later, a really huge success.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#13I think success is very abstract concept and it is also about expectations of companies/people.
Can Instagram be a success from google's perspective?
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#14Great article, but I'd like to contest a few points. 4. Google forces its developers to use its infrastructure, which wasn’t developed for small social projects One of the advantages of working for Google is that you get access to this infrastructure. At times I wish Google would start offering a raw BigTable service alongside/instead of the richer, but, limited App Engine services. 6. Google’s engineers can’t use an…
4 is particularly interesting to me. When I worked at Yahoo! back in 2005 I was constantly jealous of Google's infrastructure stuff - Yahoo! stuff was all replicated MySQL, PHP, memcached and Java while Google appeared to be creating infrastructure that totally changed the way you approached large scale development. In the past five years, it feels like the world outside Google has mostly caught up - in part through…
Totally agreed that the world outside Google has mostly caught up. An equivalent for BigTable and associated libraries is still missing though. Hypertable, HBase, KDI and even Cassandra are extremely poor substitutes. I often end up resorting to App Engine for many projects but wish that there was a true open source substitute.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#15huh? Google have built instagram. It's standard on any Android phone. [photo] -> [share] -> picasa/twitter/facebook/gmail/etc Unless I'm missing something, instagram is a 'feature' that should be on any smartphone. Not surprising it's not on the iPhone though. (First I'd heard of instagram as well. This is an interesting way to get PR).
instagram applies vintage filters, so digital modern photos look like the ones from a cheap used old camera
that is a problem for instagram - it isn't defensible atm. I imagine the Android team will look at it and think 'really, so people want to do that - ok, lets add filters in the next release' and done.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
instagram applies vintage filters, so digital modern photos look like the ones from a cheap used old camera
that is a problem for instagram - it isn't defensible atm. I imagine the Android team will look at it and think 'really, so people want to do that - ok, lets add filters in the next release' and done.
I know, I wouldn't use instagram or these filters anyways, but people seem to like this hipster stuff. Bigger problem for them is, they have to think what to offer their users before these vintage-effect photos stop being trendy.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#17I think success is very abstract concept and it is also about expectations of companies/people. Can Instagram be a success from google's perspective?
The answer is no. This article seems to be written to help some friends getting attention. Imagine this conversation between these folks and a google exec:
For which mobile platforms is it available? Only for iPhone, but it's got 500,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
Is it internationalized? you know we are a worldwide company. No, but it's got 500,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
Can it scale to serve our millons of users worldwide? No, but it's got 500,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
Do you have a plan to monetize this? No, but it's got 500,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#18huh? Google have built instagram. It's standard on any Android phone. [photo] -> [share] -> picasa/twitter/facebook/gmail/etc Unless I'm missing something, instagram is a 'feature' that should be on any smartphone. Not surprising it's not on the iPhone though. (First I'd heard of instagram as well. This is an interesting way to get PR).
instagram applies vintage filters, so digital modern photos look like the ones from a cheap used old camera
This.
The iPhone's Camera and Photos application lets you share photos the same as you might on Android.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#19huh? Google have built instagram. It's standard on any Android phone. [photo] -> [share] -> picasa/twitter/facebook/gmail/etc Unless I'm missing something, instagram is a 'feature' that should be on any smartphone. Not surprising it's not on the iPhone though. (First I'd heard of instagram as well. This is an interesting way to get PR).
The point wasn't that Google can't make the technology, of course it can. The point was that Google can't create the product. Besides, Instagram isn't even a key part of the post. Swap in any other hot startup of the week and it's still the same point: Google has an innovation problem (according to Scoble).
I'd never heard of it, it's free (hard to monetize), seriously, I'm not sure Google are that worried.
There'll always be some hot new fad. I don't think Google would be doing any good getting into the game of creating hot new fads.
Re: Why Google can’t build Instagram
#20I'm not sure I agree with everything Scoble wrote, but it's definitely interesting. One thing I think he doesn't really talk about: whether Google wants to build things like Instagram. The Google Wave example is a telling one - Wave wasn't the success Google wanted, so they scratched it. Nevermind that there were great uses for Google Wave, and there were probably hundreds of thousands of users on it, at least, who r…
> "...and there were probably hundreds of thousands of users on it"
I'd be really surprised if usage was that high. I'd believe there being maybe a few thousand using it regularly.