Google To Shut Down 411 Service

taco8982 writes "After three years of providing free directory assistance in exchange for voice samples, Google has announced plans to shut down the GOOG-411 service, in order to focus on 'speech-enabling the next generation of Google products and services across a multitude of languages.' The service will close on November 12th."

what?

[bhcompy]

Never even heard of it. I wonder how many dozens of obscure Google services there are out there

Smartphones

[MrEricSir]

It seems like smartphones are making voice calls obsolete. GOOG-411 is a victim of http://www.google.com/ [google.com]

Sad day

[AaxelB]

I for one am sad about this. I'm one of those holdouts who still doesn't have a (i|g|smart)phone, so it was nice to be able to call Google up to contact the restaurant I want to get reservations at, or anything like that. I can understand why they canceled it (they get way more voice data from Google Voice, I'm sure), but still, I'm a bit sad.

Maybe I'll finally get a more intelligent phone now...

Re:Actually...

[JSBiff]

Yeah, if you have an Android phone, Goog-411 becomes kind of redundant, as the phone has built-in voice search from Google - one touch on the icon, then speak what I want, and up it pops in the built-in browser. Can even use the maps feature to locate what you want at a convenient location without having to actually know where such-and-such street is (that is, Goog - 411 would give you a list of results, with addresses, but what if you don't already know where all those addresses are? Sure nice to see them on a map).

However, not everyone has a smart phone, and it really is a shame that the service will no longer be available for them - I used to use Goog-411 pretty frequently before getting my G1. I'm afraid just not enough people knew about Goog-411. Or perhaps they were happy with the number of users, but just decided it cost too much and as a company, didn't provide any revenue. "Free" things don't usually seem to last forever - you need *some* kind of revenue to support any service, no matter how cheap it is to provide it to the customers. Since they didn't make you listen to an ad, there was no apparent revenue stream (well, sometimes I do remember hearing something like this service brought to you by broadband.com, or something like that, so perhaps they got a little revenue from that).

Re:Sad day

[IronChef]

Texting is expensive and not a good idea while driving. I'll also really miss GOOG-411, with which I could search for a listing and get connected all over the handsfree.

Re:read the blog!

[demonlapin]

That's great, if you have 1) a cell phone 2) with a texting plan, and 3) you aren't driving. Cell phones don't always get reception, texting a la carte is expensive, and even where it's legal you shouldn't do it on the road.

Re:Sad Day!

[ReallyEvilCanine]

It was free because they spent money to provide you a service in exchange for the voice clip they got from you. When you get stuff for free, it's not because you're the customer; you're the product.

Re:Sad day

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably, since they discontinued backwards compatibility on the XBox360 right after Sony decided to stop putting the PS2 chips in the PS3.

Re:Things just got more complicated

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn you're right, you should call them up and demand your money back!