Google consigns Helpouts to its product graveyard

Google is set to shutdown Helpouts, its real-time video expert assistance service, less than 18 months after making it available to the public.

In an official Google+ post, the internet giant announced that the service, which went live in November 2013, will be shut down on 20 April.

“The Helpouts community includes some engaged and loyal contributors,” the post says, “but unfortunately, it hasn’t grown at the pace we had expected”.

The service was a brave attempt to marry two of Google’s services — Hangouts and Wallet — but even with a number of prominent partners such as Weight Watchers and Sephora onboard, it clearly hasn’t gained the traction Google was hoping it would.

Read more: The Google graveyard: 20 products that failed

Interestingly, Google was pretty bullish about Helpouts at launch, with then-VP of Engineering Udi Manber suggesting that it had the potential to be as big online retail.

As we noted at the time of the launch, expansion was always going to be a challenge. Vetting every single expert was always going to be a drain on resources and would’ve slowed down the rapid uptake in user numbers it needed to make the service viable.

Anyone wanting to download their Helpouts history from 20 April onward will be able to so using Google Takeout until 1 November.