I actually agree with what is written above. See the recent news coming out about Blogger and Picasa being retired, so it is only natural that new product development will be heavily impacted, if not entirely determined by + and only +. Though I wouldn't characterize this as the "start of the end" for Google, it is the "end of the rise and rise of Google". As with MSFT, what Google has done is that by its own actions of diversification and consolidation, it has created a space for another player who will win by keeping it "clean" in developing apps that do their "one thing" right rather than fit into the + framework AND do that "one thing" right.