Google Now In Danger As Original Team Leaves [REPORT]

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Google Now seems to be in trouble as more and more of its workforce is leaving the company. Google’s digital personal assistant is getting smarter, but the team working on it, it seems, has not been very happy with the company, says a report from Re/code.

Why team members are leaving?

Two engineers working on Google Now reportedly left in March, and soon after, a few more engineers left the company, says the report. Only one of the original team members is still working with the company according to Re/code.

Google Now, which was more of an experimental product, was announced in 2012 as part of the update to the Jelly Bean version of Android. The project got support from past Google CEO Larry Page, who now has stepped down from the position and is not managing core Google products anymore. With this, Google Now took a secondary place on the priority list and was eventually merged into the Search division despite opposition from a few members of the original team.

Google’s new CEO, Sundar Pichai, gives more importance to popular products like Chrome and Android and not so much to the Google Now service. This could be one main reason for the exits, the report says.

Will Google Now survive?

The exodus of employees comes at an interesting time as both Apple and Microsoft are busy launching and ramping up competing apps. Rivals are continuously improving their offerings, suggesting that the competition going forward will be tough for Now. It can just be hoped that the digital assistant from Google keeps getting updated. The latest threat to the product comes from Microsoft’s Cortana, as the beta version for Android has already been released.

Despite the multiple issues, the Internet firm is sure of further improvements in the product. A company representative reportedly told Re/code that the product is being used extensively by users, and they are getting positive feedback. “And we’re continuing to make Google Now work even better — continuing to add dozens of new cards, getting Now on Tap ready for release, improving our predictive technology, and iterating on the design and user experience,” the representative told the website.

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