Google Announces Some Winter Cleaning

Google is dedicated to making a good experiences with all of its applications. Google has a lot of services that it has to support and periodically they have to shut down some services to make way for new projects. Today Google is announcing a massive shutdown on some of its Google Calendar features.

Google will be focusing on some of the less popular features of the Google services and will be shutting them down accordingly. Here’s a list of the services being discontinued and their dates.

On January 4, 2013, Appointment slots will be discontinued. For those still using them, they will continue to be active for a year. Smart Rescheduler, Add gadget by URL, Check your calendar via sms, and Create event via sms (GVENT) will also be discontinued with the same timeline.

On January 30, 2013, Google Sync will also be closed down, this feature allowed for access to your Google Mail, Calendar, and Contacts via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. With Google’s recent launch of CardDAV, much of the same features can be achieved with that over Google Sync. The service will continue to work for one year but those who have Google Apps accounts will be unaffected.

On December 14, 2012, Google Calendar Sync will be discontinued and for the Nokia S60 will stop January 30, 2013. This will also effect SyncML used by older devices.

On June 14, 2013, Issue Tracker API will be discontinued. This service helped with tracking update issues on Project Hosted using Google Code.

Finally, On June 7, 2013, Punchd will be discontinued on Android and iOS. This was an app to keep your punch cards for merchants organized by participating businesses. If you currently use the app, you have until the 7th to redeem anything associated with the app.

With the discontinuation of these products we’re sure to see new ones popping up soon.