The Problem with Google Wave: User Experience

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Google Wave is no more. For those who remember the sound of the jaws of the tech mainstream dropping when Google showed the demo at Google I/O, that may come as a shock. For those who tried to use it, it’s probably less of a shock. I kind of liked ReadWriteWeb’s take:

Why did Wave fail? Maybe because if you don’t call it an “email-killer” (and you shouldn’t) then you’d have to call it a “product, platform and protocol for distributed, real time, app-augmented collaboration.” That’s daunting and proved accessible to too few people.

To say that people don’t get collaboration or that Wave was ahead of its time is a cop out. Wave IS an awesome product. Real-time collaboration IS changing how the world works together. On the Flash side that is one of the reasons I’m so excited about Collaboration Services; real-time collaboration is fantastic.

But this was a case of Google’s user experience coming to bite them. Some people love the minimalistic experience of Gmail. And it worked a few years ago when it was first introduced, but the iPhone has shown how critical a great user experience is to user adoption. And frankly, Google’s user experience hasn’t changed much since the Gmail days and the applications are starting to feel dated. That’s not a big issue when you’re doing something as straightforward as email, but when you’re trying to completely change how people communicate, you need to provide a user experience that abstracts the technology and just makes it easy. Have we seen that done before?

iPhone

Exactly. Wave was a great technology showcase but it was not a great product. Google had the chance to fundamentally change communication on the web but they didn’t have the design chops to put it in a package that was useful to people and instantly easy for them to dive into. You can’t do an 80 minute demo for something that’s this big of a shift in thinking.

Hopefully Google takes this to heart and realizes that technology isn’t good enough. When you’re being revolutionary you have to design a user experience that makes the technology feel second nature.

Related posts:

  1. Google Wave Pisses Me Off
  2. The Web Way vs the Wave Way vs the Flash Collaboration Services Way
  3. Need a Great Experience – Use Flash (Google and Sony did)
  4. User Experience Rockstar Leaves Microsoft for Frog Design
  5. Does Experience Really Matter?
  • http://www.imbizzi.com Jason

    I have to second your point that technology is only part of the answer. From my perspective, user experience is the most important. I’ve spent a lot of time playing with Android phones and iPhones. As much as it pains me to say this, the iPhone user experience is significantly smoother, polished, and frankly better than Android or Blackberry. Instead of trying to be similar enough without getting sued, Android, and Windows, and RIM need to be creative. Revolutionize the user experience again.

  • Boaz

    I think Google Wave was about Google trying to change the playing field:

    http://thedigitaltiger.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/wave-bye-bye/

  • David

    Late to the part, I know, but…

    IMHO, I think Wave was just too far ahead of its time. Circle back in 7-10 year time, and I think you’ll see a resurgence in this type of technology. I think (hope) physical devices will be in a position to take take advantage of the “wave” concept.

    Cheers

    David

  • http://www.themobilephonespecialist.co.uk The Mobile Phone Specialist

    I agree the Android user experience isn’t greater than the iphone, but the hype and marketing budget of Apple makes user feel that the iphone is worth the extra money many people pay in terms of their monthly contracts. In reality Android gives you greater value for money and will be the winnner in the long run.