[mfish]

"What we’re hearing from multiple sources is that Google+ will no longer be considered a product, but a platform... Oh, okay, that makes some sense. They have created the features necessary to integrate Google+ into everything they do from now on. Makes sense. "

If G+ was originally intended to be a platform, rather than a product, this would make sense. And I don't have any firsthand knowledge, but it seems to me that everything points to them wanting this to be a facebook-killing product...not a platform on which to build other things.