Google has decided to shut down its Google Labs division which released early versions of software under development by the company to the public for testing purposes. In a post on the official Google blog site, , stated, "While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead."
different product areas." However, this doesn"t mean that Google is moving away from developing new products. Coughran stated, "We’ll continue to push speed and innovation - the driving forces behind Google Labs - across all our products, as the early launch of the Google+ field trial last month showed." Indeed the launch of Google+ has been very successful with Google officially announcing that it has signed up over 10 million users and some estimates putting the current numbers as high as 18 million.
Google Labs was the place where a number of Google"s most well known products were first launched. That includes Google Maps which is used on many different devices by millions of users every day. Other Google Labs products included Google Alerts, where a user could set up email alerts based on subject matter, and Google Documents, the online based document software suite.