Google to shut down podcast app Listen, Video for Business & Apps for Teams

Google will be shuttering Apps for Teams, Google Listen, Google Video for Business and an unspecified number of its more than 150 blogs.

[quote]“Technology has the power to change people’s lives. But to make a difference, we need to carefully consider what to focus on, and make hard decisions about what we won’t pursue,” Google wrote in a blog post. “This enables us to devote more time and resources giving you products you love, and making them better for you.”[/quote]

Google says it’s made changes to around 50 products, features and services in the past year. By eliminating products, it says, it can better allocate its time to more popular products, which will be used by more people.

Google Apps for Teams was launched in 2008 to allow people with school or business email addresses to collaborate on non-email applications, such as Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Talk. Come Sept. 4, Google will turn Team accounts into regular Google accounts.

In 2009, Google Listen was launched for improved podcast discovery, which the company says has been made irrelevant because of Google Play. The podcast search function will be discontinued Nov. 1, though people who’ve already downloaded specific tracks will still be able to listen. Podcast subscriptions will be available in Google Reader, under the “Listen Subscription” folder.

Google Video for Business has allowed Apps for Business and Apps for Education users to use video for internal communications. Stored videos will be migrated this fall into Google Drive, but will not count against a user’s storage quota.

Though Google did not elaborate on which of its more than 150 blogs it would be terminating, the company says it won’t reduce post quantity, rather it will consolidate its communications in its most popular blogs.