Fiscal pruning time on the "social progress" items at Alphabet (Google). Each branch of the Google Project X tree must account for itself for the very first time, and there are some losers that are getting pruned early this time around.
First prune job goes to Google Fiber, all capital has been held until such time that the various installation cities pass ordinances that allow the Google hired third party local cable crews to move the other folks stuff around as they reconfigure all the boxes and telephone poles JUST ONCE.
This has to be resolved city by city before Google lays another inch of fiber optic cable in that city. This is in response to AT&T playing games with local ordinances and Union rules which is forcing Google to do it all three times in stages. This "dog in the manger" stuff must stop ASAP.
Next, Alphabet now wants the
long distance wireless tech stuff brought completely to the table and implemented in at least one city so they can really really believe it works like it is said to work.
Potentially very disruptive if they can pull that trick off ..... and if it works good Google Fiber rolls forward using that tech 100%.This puts the new Webpass guys both under the gun and under the microscope .... perform guys, like you said you could when we bought you a few months back ....
Next, no more Pixel Chromebooks will be built -- Alphabet points to brand new HP and Dell units that are built up to that level now and Google should not and will not compete with their own vendors over a market niche once the niche finally takes off. The Pixel idea rolls over to very very top end expensive phones now, with super deluxe PC type features.
Ditto for low cost Nexus phones since the market place has adopted all the Nexus tricks and and all the Nexus goodies are all in play now from all the major vendors. I bought me one of the last of the Nexus phones -- until such time the market needs to be nudged again you won't see another low cost Nexus phone.
Project Auria (the modular phone) is being cut completely and is being replace by Pixel Phones (sorta like Nexus as being thought leaders, but not low cost phones at all -- very pricey very deluxe phones).
Alphabet has dropped work levels down on the Google Car as the Google car is not the ground breaking thing any more since Volvo came out of their deep dark hole (Volvo Mining Operations) with a fully developed system that is fully installed and is WORKING RIGHT NOW in Pittsburgh, Ohio with Uber owned Volvo cars and with some Uber owed Volvo trucks rolling down the interstate RIGHT NOW as we speak.
Volvo has been doing this down in mines (tunnels and open pit style mines) for over 10 years now -- it ain't nothing new to them. Volvo is your automatic car leader now and that market niche shows signs of taking off nicely.
Need a load picked up, just use your Uber app.
Go buy you some Uber stock -- they are gonna be worldwide big before long if they can keep their momentum up like it is right now. 
Cutting these loss points early after a niche takes off (or fails to take off) will help Alphabet as a company keep Project X outlay costs down and allow them to roll these same saved resources towards some new projects
that still have their full disruptive potential undiminished.
This pruning should take place every year going forward, and if a project won't blossom and set any real fruit in a few years, it should be pruned -- the earlier the better.
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