Reflecting on the technologies that bid farewell in 2022

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Amazon's discontinued projects and services

Another e-commerce platform acquired by Amazon in 2021, Selz, has also been shut down.

Meta's discontinued projects and services

Other Brands, Services, and Products

In the realm of giants like Amazon, Meta, Google, and BlackBerry, the year 2022 witnessed the sunset of numerous technologies, products, and services.Smartphones, laptops, operating systems - while some thrived, others faced the grim reality of discontinuation due to commercial infeasibility or insufficient profitability. Here's a glance back at the extensive list of casualties.

Amazon's discontinued projects and services

After contributing to the demise of countless independent bookstores, many of which were merely family businesses with small bookshops in numerous countries, then annihilating the retail giant Borders, Amazon decided to venture into the realm of 'physical' bookstores with Amazon Books in 2015 in Seattle, USA. This was followed by the superstores Whole Foods and Amazon Go. While Whole Foods and Go remain robust, in March, Amazon announced the closure of 68 bookstores in the UK and the US.

This summer, Amazon invested $3.9 billion to acquire the healthcare service provider One Medical, subsequently unveiling plans to roll out the Amazon Clinic service, an online chat portal catering to conditions such as eczema, hair loss, sinusitis, or primary headaches. However, concurrently, they discontinued the telehealth support service. This was in August. Then in December, Amazon also ceased support for HIPAA-compliant programs safeguarding patients' personal data on Alexa devices.
Next came Amazon Glow, a technology combining a screen with a projector to facilitate online interactions while engaging with computers, such as reading, drawing, or playing games with distant friends and family. Understandably, this technology didn't gain much traction.
The Ambassador program pays warehouse employees to tweet positive messages about working conditions at Amazon. It seems even Amazon employees aren't too enthusiastic about positively assessing the company, while their actual working conditions have been widely discussed recently.

Amazon Drive, formerly known as Amazon Cloud Drive, was launched in 2011 for users to store data, images, and share them. Now Amazon focuses on the Amazon Photos service. The Amazon Drive app has been removed from the App Store and Play Store. Users will no longer be able to upload new files to this service since January 31, 2023, and by December 31, 2023, the service will cease operations, and those who have not backed up their data on this service will lose everything.

The decision to discontinue the Sold By Amazon program did not come from Amazon but from the court. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the program supporting sellers violated antitrust laws, including price fixing. In addition to having to stop the Sold By Amazon program, the company was fined $2.25 million.

Another e-commerce platform acquired by Amazon in 2021, Selz, has also been shut down.

Another Google product to bite the dust is Hangouts Classic. The transition to Google Chat, an in-Gmail messaging solution, has been in the works since 2018.

Google Duplex, the web-based AI calling solution, akin to automated movie ticket purchases, showed that people don't necessarily need overly convenient solutions, which can breed laziness.

Meta's discontinued projects and services

One of Meta's less-used but relatively useful products is the Portal Smart Display. As Meta delves deeper into its ambitions to build the metaverse, hardware projects are neglected. Introduced after Amazon Echo and Google Home (now Nest), Portal always had to catch up with the technology of the other two giants. Not to mention, not everyone trusts Facebook to place a smart device with both microphone and camera in the middle of their homes. In November, coinciding with Meta's major personnel restructuring, the Portal project was also canceled, along with two other smartwatch projects.

In 2015, Facebook introduced Instant Articles, collaborating with several publishing units, where clicking on a link leads to immediate article viewing, without redirecting to a browser and waiting for the link to load. Instant Articles could be up to 10 times faster than traditional solutions. However, this convenient feature was hardly utilized, with less than 3% of the total articles users viewed being news, making it irrational to invest in a solution not aligned with trends.
Facebook Bulletin, a paid news solution, will also cease operations in March 2023.
Facebook Sparked, a speed dating service allowing two people to video call for 4 minutes and then experiment with voice chat, shut down earlier this year in January.
Facebook Tuned was also aimed at couples, creating a dedicated online space for them. However, with the onset of COVID-19, the consequence was that couples actually needed personal space, as they spent the whole day together.
The Libra cryptocurrency project, later renamed Facebook Diem, was also discontinued because regulators did not accept allowing payments in a non-regulated currency with unstable value.

With the introduction of Facebook Group community solutions, university students no longer find the need to resort to Facebook Campus for sharing their class information. Thus, rendering the latter obsolete.

Similar to Facebook Campus, Neighborhoods aimed at facilitating interaction among residential communities. However, with the existence of Groups, the necessity for such a solution dwindled, leading to its cessation in October.

Mirroring TikTok's endeavors, Facebook Live Shopping embeds product links within streams, enabling users to inquire about products directly. Nonetheless, it fails to rival TikTok's prowess.

Facebook Gaming's streaming app falls short against Twitch and YouTube, prompting Facebook to integrate Gaming as a tab within its main application.

The culling of personnel also resulted in the termination of the Facebook Connectivity project after 9 years.

The standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse clip recording apps were removed from app stores to streamline focus on the core application.

Similarly, IGTV, which aggregated short clips to compete with TikTok, ceased standalone operations and is now integrated into the Instagram app.

Other Brands, Services, and Products

BlackBerry OS operating system ceased operations in January 2022, marking the end of a decade-long decline for BlackBerry.

Popcorn Time, often dubbed the Netflix of pirated movies, also had to shut down due to legal issues. People now resort to torrenting instead of using this service for pirated content.

Firefox Reality, the web browser for VR and AR, has been discontinued and will no longer receive updates.

The Twitch desktop app ceased support in April, leaving only the mobile app and Twitch.tv website functional.

Plex, an online streaming service, experimented with podcasts and web series in 2018 but couldn't compete and had to discontinue these content categories.

Spotify Greenroom, originally designed to rival the audio-sharing social network Clubhouse, rebranded as Spotify Live but struggled to find success following the trend.

Since its introduction to the market in 1998, Lego has decided to discontinue selling the deeply programmable building sets known as Mindstorms.According to PCMag

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Frequently Asked Questions

What significant services and products did Amazon discontinue in 2022?

In 2022, Amazon discontinued several services, including 68 bookstores in the UK and US, the Amazon Drive app, and the telehealth support service. The Sold By Amazon program was also shut down due to legal issues, along with the Ambassador program, and the Selz platform acquisition.

Why did Google decide to shut down its Stadia cloud gaming service?

Google shut down its Stadia cloud gaming service in September 2022 due to several factors, including inadequate infrastructure, poor game development efforts, and an inability to attract a significant user base since its launch in November 2019.

What were the main reasons behind Meta's cancellation of the Portal Smart Display?

Meta canceled the Portal Smart Display project due to its struggle to compete with more established products like Amazon Echo and Google Home. Additionally, Meta's focus on building the metaverse led to the neglect of its hardware projects, resulting in the decision to discontinue the Portal.

What led to the discontinuation of Facebook's Instant Articles feature?

Facebook's Instant Articles feature was discontinued because it was underutilized, with less than 3% of total articles viewed being news. This lack of engagement made it unfeasible for Facebook to continue investing in a feature that did not align with current user trends.

Which products did BlackBerry discontinue in 2022, marking its operational decline?

In January 2022, BlackBerry ceased operations of its OS operating system, symbolizing the culmination of its decade-long decline in the technology market. This marked a significant transition for the once-prominent smartphone manufacturer.

What issues led to the shutdown of the Firefox Reality browser for VR and AR?

The Firefox Reality browser, designed for virtual and augmented reality, was discontinued due to its inability to compete effectively in the evolving market. The lack of updates and engagement rendered it less viable as technology advanced.