Google shutting down its LinkedIn competitor Hire, without telling why
What's the story
After killing off Google+, Allo, and Inbox over the last few months, Google is sunsetting another one of its consumer-focused products - Hire. The service was launched two years ago as a broad LinkedIn competitor, but now, after failing to match the Microsoft-owned platform, it is going to be shuttered for good. Here's all you need to know about Google Hire and its departure.
Feature
What Google Hire used to offer
Google Hire came to the scene as a job listing platform aimed at making the hiring process easier for small and mid-sized companies. It served decently for about two years, but then, Google announced the rather abrupt plan of shutting it down completely. Notably, the search giant emphasized that the service won't be killed immediately and continue to work until September 1, 2020.
Reason
Why exactly Google is pulling the plug on Hire
In its announcement, Google didn't say much about the reason for killing Hire. The company said that Hire had been successful, but they are now "focusing our resources on other products in the Google Cloud portfolio." To note, the company didn't specifically detail the success of Hire or how many people have been using it as a primary job listing service.
Promise
Existing users can continue even after their contract expires
As part of the shutdown strategy, Google said no updates or features will be released for Hire in the coming months. However, the good news is, premium users of the service won't have to pay anything (and continue to use it) if their contract expires before September 1, 2020. Even standard usage of Hire would be made free for users after their next bill.
Killed products
Google has killed several products over the years
Having said that, Google Hire will now join the list of several hardware/software products the search giant has killed over the years. This one was fairly short-lived, but there have been products that were killed after years of existence. The list is so long that there's a dedicated graveyard, called 'Killed by Google,' detailing every single product/service the company threw on the chopping block.