In the coming months, Google is going to retire two products that didn’t catch on the way the company have hoped, but did serve as influential models: Google Health (retiring January 1, 2012; data available for download through January 1, 2013) and Google PowerMeter (retiring September 16, 2011).
Both were based on the idea that with more and better information, people can make smarter choices, whether in regard to managing personal health and wellness, or saving money and conserving energy at home. While they didn’t scale as Google had hoped, the company believes it did highlight the importance of access to information in areas where it’s traditionally been difficult.
Google Health launched in 2008 as a central repository for all of your health information, including prescriptions, medical history, medical records, and more.
Google is making this announcement well in advance to give you plenty of time to download the information you might have stored in either product or to transfer it to another service, and we’re making it easy for you to do it in a variety of formats.