[fatalerrorx3]

If they make the menu hoverable (at least on desktop) then their other products are still only a click away.

This makes more sense actually because it means more searches from Google's main homepage, because there are less options to navigate away.

It also makes the page less cluttered and gives the user 2 distinct set of actions: 1) Perform a search 2) Use a popup menu to navigate to a different product

[jrochkind1]

I suspect google, like many of us, is either designing 'mobile first', or at least prioritizing mobile highly enough that they will never design a fundamental interaction that requires 'hover' to work.

[andrewflnr]

It's easy enough to tap a menu to get it to open. As an iPad user, I don't think I would mind a well-designed hover-centric workflow, as long as it works okay on touch too.

It would have to be well-designed, though. Apparently it's really easy to wind up with a moronic hover-based menu, judging by the number of them I see around.