[barkingdog]

Those portfolios are not even remotely compatible. Hangouts is the only viable product there. Meanwhile, all of Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and FB are each very strong products with extremely, almost worrisomely strong network effects. Clusterfuck is a bit vague and maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you've got to admit that it's truly hard to think of Google as a company that makes best-in-class consumer software products anymore.

[bigtones]

Google has seven products that are used by more than a billion users per month. They are the only company in the world that can say that - that by definition IS best in class.

[threeseed]

On an unrelated note Zuckerberg really is a genius.

Instagram and WhatsApp were in hindsight superb purchases since the network effects have turned out to be far stronger than I think most people ever expected. Likewise splitting out Messenger makes so much sense since companies are now targeting it for their AI/Bot strategies.

[rayiner]

Google never was a company that made best in class consumer software products. Search (maybe Maps?) is the only thing it's ever excelled at.

[peejaybee]

GMail was definitely best in class for web mail when it rolled out, and if something has taken its lead, I don't know what it is.

[bane]

I would argue it's advertising delivery.

[Sargos]

Search, Maps, Gmail, Photos, YouTube are all best in their field. They have a lot of products that are more niche but their core lineup is solid.

[crottypeter]

what about gmail?