It might suffer from version-1-ness, and it might be version 3 or 7 from Apple or whoever that takes off. It might simply be too early. I'm pretty sure a lot of the enthusiasm that's around now is going to lead to disappointment when what people are dreaming about isn't supported by available technology.

The other factor is that the primary concerns are precisely in google's tonedeaf spots- design and privacy. Google as a company isn't very well equipped to deal with either of those issues.