14 DAY TRIAL // Google has stayed quiet on why it decided to shut down Reader. Or rather, it simply said that there weren't enough users and then didn't say anything else, even as fans were outraged.
But the company is finally talking, providing a more detailed explanation. It's not anything surprising or particularly relevant, but it's probably the best thing we're going to get.
Essentially, Google's Richard Gingras, senior director of news and social products, said that people simply don't consume news the way Reader was designed for them to consume it.
Because of smartphones and ubiquitous connectivity, people are getting their news in small bites through the day, rather than scanning all the stories in the morning or a have more leisurely read in the evening.
Google Reader, and RSS in general, was designed around this model, Gingras says. But most people don't stay up to date like this anymore.
Instead, they get their news from Twitter or other social sites. The biggest change is that people have gotten accustomed to news being "pushed" to them rather than them having to seek it out.
This is what Google is focused on these days, in turning Google+ into the main source of news and in improving Google Now to the point where it can provide you with the news stories that would interest you, as they happen.
Obviously, this confirms what many have said, that Google would much rather have people use Google+ than Reader. But it doesn't mean that there isn't a point, as most people never got too familiar with Reader and RSS and they never will.
Google won't focus on things used by a few hundreds of thousands of people, or even a few million. It wants most people online to use its products.
Google+ hasn't exactly been a huge success for the search giant. But given the handicap with which it started, the site actually fared OK.
Much more interesting though would be Google actually turning Now into a news source, one that works and that provides you with just the stories you want to read, when you want to read them.