Google Wave Closing Down

Couldn't see a use-case for Google Wave, the combo instant messaging/collaboration software that Google released last year? Well, Google can't anymore either. They've decided to stop developing the service going forward, though they'll keep the lights on for loyal users for at least the next year.

By far the most memorable thing about the service was probably the Google Wave "cover" of the movie Pulp Fiction (embedded above) created by one enterprising designer. 

No one knows what Google's social media strategy will look like under the company's rumored new social media chief Vic Gundotra. So far, though, novelist Colson Whithead summed up the company's forays best with his self-deprecating joke, "I make love like google does social media: confused & clumsy."

Google Wave is one of several eye-catching innovations hatched by Google over the years, which have failed to make a meaningful contribution to a company that still relies heavily on its core online advertising business.

Google Wave, which stirred a great deal of interest at its unveiling just last year, was designed to aggregate users' communication in a central location open to a number of participants. Google Senior Vice President of Operations Urs Hölzle said in a statement that despite garnering "numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked."

Read the full story at Marketwatch.