The blog post announcing the end of “active development” of Notebook (the service will still work for existing users, sans the valuable Firefox Extension) has received nearly 600 comments, most of which voice disappointment over the move and a lack of interest in products Google considers alternatives. Additionally, an online petition, a Facebook group, and a “Save Notebook” blog are being employed to try and convince Google to keep the product alive.
What’s interesting is that some users signing the petition and leaving comments indicate a willingness to actually pay for the Notebook product, either as a standalone application or as part of Google Apps. Richard Caelius, a member of the Facebook group trying to save Notebook, writes, “I personally consider Google Notebook so valuable that I would go even further, in that I'd be more than happy to pay an annual subscription for the service. Considering Google Apps Premier Edition costs $50 per user per year, a price of maybe $10-$15 per year for me would be a great deal.”
Did Google overlook the possibility that Notebook could be a money-maker? Probably not – in reality, the userbase was likely far too small to generate meaningful revenue for a company of Google’s size. But like a lot of the Google experimental products that are getting put out to pasture, you have to wonder if the company simply didn’t do enough to market them to the mass market. There are clearly passionate Google Notebook users out there, but my guess is that the vast majority of those who use Google’s main products – search, mail, and apps – never even had an opportunity to give it a chance.