This blog is really more about understanding the Valley than its products, but a top Google exec just made the sorriest excuse for pushing half-baked products. A New York Times piece points out the features in Yahoo Maps and Mapquest that Google Maps lacks — simple things like remembering a user's home address (no, "default location" doesn't work). Then comes the explanation:

Alan Eustace, a senior vice president for engineering and research at Google, said during an interview last week that the company had made a conscious choice to play down copycat features.

"We are trying to come up with something that is new and different that makes people say 'Wow,'" he said.

Ah yes, Google can't make a working product because everyone else has done it. A working product wouldn't go wow.

In the Race With Google, It's Consistency vs. 'Wow' [NYT]

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