I don't think the comparisons with Gmail/YouTube are really fair or accurate. YouTube doesn't have any real major competition - and not only did they never want to become a subscription-based premium streaming service, they didn't even really have a path to doing it when it started. The entire point of YouTube is user-uploaded content. Google did try expanding into selling some real films and such several years ago, but I can't imagine that ever being a major money-maker. At the end of the day, it's unmatched at what it does.
Same with Gmail... How would Google transform a conventional email service into social media and manage to convince users that they wanted that change? It's like saying that MS failed to transform Outlook into social media, or that Apple failed to turn iCloud Mail into something similar. Besides, Google did make separate attempts to make both a messaging service and a social media platform, but both failed.
Same with Gmail... How would Google transform a conventional email service into social media and manage to convince users that they wanted that change? It's like saying that MS failed to transform Outlook into social media, or that Apple failed to turn iCloud Mail into something similar. Besides, Google did make separate attempts to make both a messaging service and a social media platform, but both failed.