While we were all paying attention to Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple, Google pulled the plug on Slide, the social networking apps company that it purchased last year for $200 million. The shutdown will result in the termination of nearly all Slide projects
Slide operated primarily as an independent company, with Google there to back it up. Leading the way at Slide was Max Levchin, who famously founded PayPal. AllThingsD reports that Levchin will be leaving Slide and Google.
“Max has decided to leave Slide and Google to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him the best,” a Google spokesperson told AllThingsD. “Most of the team from Slide will remain at Google to work on other opportunities.
The near death of Slide means the majority of Slide’s past and recent projects, including Slideshow, SuperPoke Pets, Disco, Pool Party, Video Inbox and the recently launched Photovine app. According to TechCrunch, the only Slide project that still has a chance for survival is Prizes.org, which will allegedly continue to be developed by Slide’s team in China.
News of Slide’s demise was first reported by Liz Cannes at AllThingsD, and later by MG Siegler at TechCrunch. The news has since been confirmed by Slide, in a blog post on the company website.
“We created products with the goal of providing a fun way for people to connect, communicate and share,” writes the Slide team. “While we are incredibly grateful to our users and for all of the wonderful feedback over the years, many of these products are no longer as active or haven’t caught on as we originally hoped.”
Slide says that it is working to enable users of Slide products to retrieve their data from Slide before the shutdown. Anyone who has pictures stored in a Slide app can visit Slide.com, and download their photos to their desktop, or export them directly to Picasa.
