Although this could be seen as good news for bitcoin, it does seem like another reason never to lean too heavily on any of googles products and offerings, you can never seem to tell which ones they are "serious" about and which services they will cut next.
This is a great point. It seems like half of their offerings are stuck in a perpetual beta state. I guess it is a function of their creative culture where it is viewed as better to try a dozen different things and see if they work out. I'm just not sure if anything has worked out to be really profitable for them other than search.