Google LLC today notified customers that App Maker, the low-code application development service included in G Suite, will be discontinued on Jan. 19, 2021.

The product will be shut down in phases. Effective today, Google has stopped development work on App Maker, and the company will follow up the move on April 15 by removing the ability to create new applications. Customers will retain the option to edit and deploy existing applications until the plug is pulled next year.

App Maker provides the ability to build web services using pre-built software elements that reduce the amount of code developers have to write from scratch. The tool is geared mainly toward creating simple applications such online forms, tutorials and interfaces for navigating data stored in other services or databases. App Maker’s appeal is that it enables companies to create software to automate repetitive tasks without the expense of building a fully custom solution.

Google attributed the decision to shut down the service to low usage. But that likely wasn’t the only factor behind the move.

Earlier this month, the search giant acquired AppSheet, a startup with a competing low-code development platform that counts the likes of Costco Wholesale Corp. and General Electric Co. as a customers. It looks like the startup’s platform will be replacing App Maker as the flagship low-code development solution in Google’s portfolio. In its blog post notifying customers about the discontinuation of the service, the search giant listed AppSheet as an alternative they should consider for future projects.

Google has a history of shutting down applications that are underperforming or overlap with other, more popular solutions in its product line. That’s what happened with Allo, a mobile chat service the search giant discontinued last year after porting certain key features to other apps.

It would have been surprising if Google had moved to shut down App Maker without having an alternative solution in place. The low-code development market is booming, with Forrester Research Inc. estimating that the segment will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 40% through 2022 to reach $21.2 billion. Gartner Inc. projects that low-code tools will account for 65% of all application development activity by the time 2024 rolls around.

Given the rapidly growing revenue opportunity, Google will likely invest considerable resources into enhancing AppSheet’s feature set in the wake of the acquisition. The company’s rivals can be expected to ramp up their efforts as well. Microsoft competes in the low-code segment with the Power Apps toolkit and Amazon Web Services Inc., which doesn’t yet have an entry into the market, has been rumored to be developing a similar solution for close to two years. 

Photo: Google