Google announced today that it is going to discontinue Google Reader. This is an RSS feed reader that was one of the most beloved out there, chiefly due to its simplicity of use. Google Reader always made it very easy to access RSS Feeds in any account on a tablet, PC, MAC, at work, and at home via reader software. The entire project is due to expire July 1st, 2013.
Google Reader initially was developed after the company acquired “Blogger.” The same programming team developed an online reader that anyone could use. When it debuted in 2006, the internet grew to accept this as the default RSS Reader of choice. Google is seeing increased competition from Pulse, Flipboard, and a myriad of other services that have diminished its market share.
Google is scaling back on its various web projects and announced 11 others that will be canned within the next few months. This might be good news, because Google Reader hasn’t received any updates in many months and feature/bug requests were all basically ignored. It’s better to go out now instead of wallowing in obscurity. The only positive note is that rival service Feedly, which announced it intends to clone Google Reader and offer it for free.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
