Google started out as a humble search engine all the way back in 1998.25 long years later into its existence, many of the company’s achievements have been nothing short of remarkable. In this time, Google branched out into many different areas, and many of us probably can’t imagine a world without it now that it brings us some ofthe best phonesout there. However, as any successful billion-dollar corporation would tell you, success is hardly possible without a few mistakes along the way.
Let’s be honest, 2023 has been a rocky year for almost everybody across the globe, and Google hasn’t been exempt from the phenomenon. But there were a few glaring errors (let’s call them fails) that the company made along the way, and we’ll go through just a few of them.
1Starting the year with mass layoffs
Google didn’t waste any time getting into the news cycle this year, kicking off 2023 with mass layoffs. Aninternal memothat was accessed by news publications revealed CEO Sundar Pichai taking responsibility for the cuts and citing economic reasons for the big decision.
Things clearly weren’t handled as well as the company would have liked, based on Pichai’s own admissionrecently, while the CEO conceded that it had to be done. Overall, around 12,000 employees were let go during this period, making up for around 6% of its workforce at the time.
2Lawsuits galore
The past few years have seen regulatory pressure amping up on corporations like Google, particularly across Europe. However, Google has also faced similar obstacles from the US Justice Department in the recent past, more specifically the antitrust lawsuit looking into itssearch practices.
Then earlier this year, the DoJ, along with several other states, filed another lawsuit, this time targeting parent company Alphabet, over alleged malpractice with itsonline advertising business.
Google’s legal battle with Epic Games alsoreached a jury verdictjust this month, with the Fortnite maker firmly coming out on top and compelling Google to make some changes to thePlay Store. For what it’s worth, Google has said it would appeal the decision, meaning the battle is far from over. Not much later, another Play Store-related antitrust lawsuit led to a settlement with the search giant eking out$700 million in damages, of which $630 million are to go to US consumers.
3The not-so-confident debut of Google Bard
It was panic stations for most tech companies as OpenAI’s ChatGPT started taking the world by storm in late 2022. This also marked a pivotal moment in how companies look at AI, with Google finallyannouncingits competitor in February 2023, known asGoogle Bard.
The reveal came just two days before the company’s hastily scheduled event in Paris to showcase the application of AI within Google Search and Maps, showing just how uncoordinated it was approaching the sudden competition. By most accounts, this event came as a surprise to many and may even have been somewhat rushed, as evidenced by some unexpected stumbles during thepresentation.
But things were shaky even before the event took place. The company posted a video on X (known as Twitter back then) meant to highlight Google Bard’s capabilities. But there was a big problem. The answer to the question shown in the video was incorrect, as multiple publications later pointed out.
All of this made it pretty obvious was Google was clearly in a hurry to get things rolling with its new AI chatbot. Of course, there were a few other things that Bard got wrong,as we later found out. Looking back, it seems clear that Google may have been better off holding out until the release of Gemini, its new and much more advanced AI model that it introduced in December — more on that later, though.
4Pixel 8 Pro missing some features on launch-day
Thanks to a treasure trove of leaks, we already knew what to expect from the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in the hardware and software department. But as the Made by Google event arrived, we learned that some featureswere missing from the Pixel 8 Pro. Google proudly introduced features such as Zoom Enhance, Video Boost, an on-board AI model, and more on stage, only to tell people that they were not ready just yet.
The Pixel 8 Pro also has a temperature sensor, though it can only measure the temperature of surfaces at the moment. Three months after the launch, Google is still seeking FDA approval to permit the use of this sensor to measure body temperature. Making matters worse, it looks like reading body temperature was one of the key functionalities envisioned for the sensor as per leaked marketing documents. Overall, the temperature sensor itself seems like another 2023 fail for Google. It could have been a somewhat useful gimmick to have during the height of the pandemic, but now, its use is wholly questionable.
Thankfully, some of the promised features like Video Boost and on-board AI capabilities made their way to the Pixel 8 Pro with theDecember 2023 Pixel Feature Drop, though we havemixed feelings about the latter.
5Lack of Pixel Watch spare parts
We live in a time when the sustainability and repairability of electronics are a major focus for consumers. While not everyone may be willing to go the route of brands like Fairphone, which just launched its latestFairphone 5this year, people expect big corporations like Google to do the bare minimum, like making parts available after the launch of a new product.
But that isn’t the case for the Pixel Watch, which was revealed to belacking replacement displays/screens. With Google basically saying it won’t repair or fix cracked Pixel Watch screens, consumers are effectively left with the option of buying another smartwatch. This isn’t particularly the wisest way to go about a product that competes with the likes of theSamsung Galaxy Watch 6and theApple Watch.
In Google’s defense
Despite being late to some aspects like AI chatbots, Google is now on course to gain parity with OpenAI, thanks to its recently unleashedGemini AI, which will be available inUltra,Pro, andNanoversions, meant for use in a variety of places, ranging from data centers to your smartphone. The Pro model will go into supercharging Google Bard, while the Nano model is built into the Pixel 8 Pro. Of course, there are a few other things that Google got right in 2023 (and the company will tell you about it), so it’s not been all bad news for the corporation.
We recently tookGemini Nano for a spinon the Pixel 8 Pro only to find the accompanying inclusions, such as Smart Reply in Gboard, to be rather underwhelming. But since these are still fairly recent features partially still marked as developer previews, it’s too early to come to strong conclusions.
With Google’s AI apparatus expected to grow exponentially in the coming year, some of these concerns could be easily dealt with. To close out the year, the industry juggernaut is expanding theAI-based Magic Compose featureto Google Messages users outside the US.
