Web-based services pop-up and fizzle-out all the time in the mobile space. There’s just no telling what service will soar and which services will fail. Google has apparently deemed their iPhone-optimized iGoogle.com portal a failure and has put the iPhone-customized portal out to pasture.
iGoogle.com allowed you to customize your homepage with all manner of widgets displaying sports scores, stocks, weather, and more. Google had previously rolled out an iPhone-optimized version of the iGoogle.com portal that featured expandable and collapsible headers allowing you to quickly switch between widgets. Alas, iPhone users looking to check their iGoogle.com portal will now be directed to the desktop version of iGoogle.com.
Interestingly, Google’s iPhone-optimized search portal is still a go. Searching through Google’s homepage on your iPhone will return search results specifically formatted to fit as much information on the iPhone display as possible. Google has also retained their mobile-optimized Google Reader and Google Gmail services. Why did iGoogle get the chop? How many of you out there actually used iGoogle (and how many actually used iGoogle on the iPhone)? Perhaps iGoogle’s widgets couldn’t compete with native iPhone apps that offer the same functionality (stocks, weather, sports, news, etc.).
iGoogle for iPhone, we knew ye well.