Google To Shut Down Google Health, Google PowerMeter

Google is retiring two sites--Google Health and Google PowerMeter--due to low interest, the company announced.

"We want to satisfy the most pressing needs for the greatest number of people," Google wrote in a blog post. "In the case of these two products, our inability to scale has led us to focus our priorities elsewhere."

Launched in 2008, Google Health, a site that let users upload medical information online, was devised to make it easier for people to access and selectively share data about their health. Users could store records, import data from doctors and hospitals, set goals for personal wellness, and monitor daily activity. The site will shut down on January 1, 2012, though users can download their data until January 1, 2013.

Google wrote of the reason for its decision.

With a few years of experience, we’ve observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would. There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people

Google PowerMeter will also be closed by September 16, 2011. PowerMeter let people monitor the energy they use, accessing data through smart meters and energy monitors, and showing people how much energy they use and when. The tool let people predict their costs and create goals for budget savings. With PowerMeter, Google hoped to help users lower energy consumption by making it simple to see the data behind the costs.

Google, which noted that the notion of the smart meter had since started to catch on across the country, explained that while they're "pleased that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of this access and created something of a model," that "our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would like."

Recently, the disappearance of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button from certain search homepages sparked speculation that Google was killing the feature.

Comments

[thehighbrowpoliticker]

08:51 AM on 06/27/2011

I used Google health along with my Cardiotrainer app on my Droid. Too bad. I just think that its lost is testament to lack of tech savy-ness on the part of the American consumer. Anything overly complicated is just not worth our attention.

[pwhcs]

12:31 PM on 06/26/2011

Google Health: Impact in this space will take time, and business model is not very easy. But, we need more work and more creative ideas. Online PHR will work only if it starts in the doctor's office - when physician consultations and health records are tightly linked.

Check out http://www.pinkwhalehealthcare.com/ as an attempt to bridge the doctor's office and the patient.

Sai

[sjqp2100]

07:06 PM on 06/25/2011

There are niches for just about anything, but I guess web energy conservation isn't one of them. Oh well, at least we have until September 16th to get something out of this.

http://hdtv.sjqpblog.com/news

[bkerensa]

06:24 PM on 06/25/2011

I liked Google Health

[Kmuzu]

02:55 PM on 06/25/2011

spam

[MichaelMacZesty]

10:50 PM on 06/24/2011

Google is an interesting company in this respect: they are certainly willing to try experimental ventures with the Google name brand attached. Some make it and some don't and Google doesn't seem to mind.

What is more troublesome is the issues that Google is facing with their pending anti-trust case from the FTC. That might hamstring their future ventures: http://michaelmaczesty.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-google-stacking-deck-of-results.html

[Hong Li]

08:14 PM on 06/24/2011

Google have been struggling in this area for a while now. I commend them for their efforts.

It's time for doctors to move over to Drchrono EHR on the iPad, the next generation EHR.

[planetjeffy]

07:07 PM on 06/24/2011

Lots of changes since Brin took over the CEO job.

[a0k]

05:30 PM on 06/24/2011

the death of Google Health is symbolic of a disappointingly slow rate of adoption across all electronic medical records & moreso even -- of the privacy concerns inherent in Google owning all that data.

[Down in FL]

07:32 PM on 06/24/2011

I think it's mostly the latter. At least for me it would be.

[DRaymond]

08:06 PM on 06/24/2011

I agree about the privacy concerns.  Google makes no secret about the fact that essentially everything that they do is about collecting information to deliver more targeted advertizing.  Now in general HIPPA would prevent them from doing that but Google's general TOS gives them a wide disclaimer to analyze publish and transmit the information you give them.