It’s no secret Google is incredibly bad at naming its products, but it’s also horrible at sticking with those names, andthe recent switch from Bard to Geminimakes this all the more apparent. Why is Google so bad at branding? Clearly, that’s a question for the ages when there are no brakes on the name change train.
It’s incredibly nonsensicalto see Google still struggle with such a basic conceptof running a business. Year after year, Google is actively changing the well-known names of its products to something else, and then often changing them right back a few years later. Google can’t decide what to call anything, it would seem, with many of its products offering similar functions, causing even more confusion.
The 5 silliest Google rebrands we still can’t get over
Google is in the habit of renaming its services, but these ones have been the weirdest so far
We’ve gone from Google Now to Google Assistant, which was bad enough asAssistant has continually lost features. But Bard entered the picture last year as Google tardily hopped on the generative AI bandwagon, and it has now been renamed to Gemini — but of course, Assistant somehow ties into this mess because Gemini isn’t ready to replace it, and not being ready appears to be a theme for Google and its AI offerings over the last year. The Pixel 8 launch was filled with promises of AI features “coming soon,” and now that those plans are coming to fruition, it’s quite clear Google was not ready to do anything with AI, including naming it.
Yep, Google has already monetized Gemini even though it’s clearly not ready
Are people expected to keep this nonsensical merry-go-round of branding straight where products are interwoven through each other due to short-sightedness to plan or finish said products? A perfect example of this is how Circle to Search currently functions better than whatever Gemini is doing when asking it to look up images, and Gemini is being angled as a subscription service. Now, imagine trying to explain to your grandmother the difference between the two and how to access each one. I wish you luck.
Circle to Search versus Gemini, the winner is clear
Frankly, Google’s behavior is exactly the kind of thing that guarantees I will avoid a product forever, and I doubt I’m alone. I’m already sick of being bombarded by AI news. Everything has AI in it now, and yet I’ve still seen very little proof that any of it actually solves problems in a meaningful way. Now add on top constant name changes, and guess what? You’ve not only failed to prove a single use case that I care about, but you’ve failed to keep my attention. Is it Bard, is it Assistant, is it Now, or is it Gemini? By gosh, at this point, I truly don’t care; I’ve washed my hands of the business entirely; it’s too annoying to keep up with. Good job, Google; you’ve irritated a tech nerd into not caring about tech.
First place is reserved for winners
I agree the nameGemini will be easy to say; it won’t get confused with other commands, which is more than I can say for “Hey Google.” At the end of the day, Google should have put forth the effort to finish its product before releasing it so it wouldn’t have to rename it. A novel concept, I know, but it’s one I believe the fourth-richest company in the world should have a better grasp on. But hey, this is why first place is reserved for winners who actually know what they are doing.
