While Google says that a decline in usage is the reason for cutting the service (but hey, let's keep Orkut around!), my guess is that they weren't able to monetize it. However, I know that there's a lot of people out there that would gladly pay money to keep Reader up and running, myself included.I'm extremely bummed. Not only is Google killing what I consider their #1 service (yes, I use it more than Gmail), but it looks like I'm going to have to stop using Minimal Reader Pro, which is my #1 Android app, unless the dev modifies the app to manually add feeds versus pulling from Google Reader. Sure, there's Flipboard, Currents, and X, and Y, and Z...but none of them are as clean and "just plain works" like Google Reader. Not to mention, Flipboard and Currents are apps only...there's no web interface to read all of your feeds.
A lot of people have been suggesting that Twitter be used as an alternative, but I much prefer using Reader to skim over an article before clicking on "Click here to continue reading". There's also the fact that I'd rather not have to deal with the unnecessary chatter that's on Twitter. I can't tell you how many Twitter accounts I've stopped following because the guy managing the account that day decided to post what he's having for lunch, instead of just posting links to new articles.
I'm really hoping that Google announces full RSS integration into Google+ during I/O this year. In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to give Feedly a shot.
