Google will kill Jamboard next year. Anyone who previously paid $5,000 for such a whiteboard will soon no longer be able to use it because the necessary online infrastructure will no longer be available.

At the end of 2024, Google will stop using Jamboard, as will all Whiteboard owners. Ultimately, the device only works within Google Workspace and Google is discontinuing support. This makes Jamboard unusable.

Whatboard?

Google Jamboard is a 55-inch 4K touchscreen that launched in 2016 and was designed specifically for schools and businesses. Users can take notes and give presentations on the device, which is suitable for both meeting rooms and classrooms. Anyone not attending the meeting in person can follow live remotely using the Jamboard application. Jamboard also integrates with Google Workspace so you can quickly open Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. You can think of the thing a bit like Google’s version of a Microsoft Surface Hub.

Google sold Jamboard for $5,000, but that doesn’t cover the cost to users. You also pay $600 per year for support, plus the regular cost of a Google Workspace subscription for each user. Jamboard therefore continues to make money for Google even after the first sale.

Remove the screen and support

This money is not enough to save Jamboard. Despite the large investments that customers have made over the years, Google is abandoning the product completely. Since the integration with the online backend will also be discontinued, customers will no longer be able to use their Jamboard from the end of next year.

Google is announcing an abrupt end to a professional product that buyers rightly assumed would be relevant for longer. Google will take care of that jamsFiles may be migrated before the end of support, but there appears to be no intention to update the whiteboard so that it remains useful after the end of support.

The company indicates that it is willing to work with educational institutions to find a solution. It is unclear what such a solution might look like. Ultimately, Google will stop selling its own whiteboards completely and has no plans to bring a replacement onto the market.

Middle finger

The move amounts to a middle finger to schools and companies that have relied on Google to provide support at the level of other professional organizations. From an ecological perspective, it is also not a good signal from Google to deliberately and hastily turn a perfectly functioning product into waste.

Google has now made it routine to change or discontinue products and services at its own discretion. Jamboard’s death is particularly notable because there was a recurring revenue stream associated with the product. You can’t really blame a buyer if an annual payment of 600 euros gives the impression that long-term development and support is guaranteed.

Jamboard’s history shows once again that Google does what Google wants, and customers just have to accept it. Whether or not you contribute generously to Google’s profit margins doesn’t seem to matter much to the company, which once again proves that advertising is its reliable core business. Anyone looking for Google solutions for a long-term project should consider this.