An ominous view of the Google sign at night.

There comes a time when every company, no matter how large or innovative, feels pressure.  The pressure, in Google’s case, is to narrow its focus.  Google has to stop being everything and trying so many products that take away from its core businesses, and in the spirits of that, Google has undertaken a very public position.  Google is closing down Google Labs, its creative-centric beta-testing public labs.  The existing Google Labs products will either be retired or promoted to full-time Google project status; those Labs features that have been ported to Android will remain on the Android Marketplace.

However, if you’re a user of the many features of Gmail Labs and Map Labs, fear not.  While Google Labs itself will be slowly closing, right now none of the features you’ve come to know and love in your Labs will be going by the wayside.  Said Google spokesman Jason Freidenfelds, “We don’t have any plans to change in-product experimentation channels like Gmail Labs or Maps Labs.  We’ll continue to experiment with new features in each of our products.”

Image via Washington Post.

Tags: Google, Google Labs, Google to close Google Labs, Google Labs closed, Google beta testing website closed, Google Labs ending, Gmail Labs, Map Labs, Jason Freidenfelds, technology, innovation, public beta testing

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