IIRC, he also acknowledged many other contributing factors, like the slow release of the features presented in the original videos (some of which never were released), people simply not knowing what to do with it, etc.
Something else I remember was that he suggested the code should/could have been a tiny fraction of the size and dramatically more efficient for what it did.
I'm not saying I agree with the article at all, it's just what I read. For all I know it could have been a hoax.
This appears to shed similar light on it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3101201
Personally, I loved Wave and was hoping to run my own server when they released what code they did release. Unfortunately, what has come of it is still lacking key features I'd want before doing so. (I'm not a Java developer, so would not be able to contribute)
Wave had the potential to be like Google Docs, but using an open protocol for live collaboration, instead of locking you into Google's services. So you could host it yourself, and seamlessly share it with anyone using a compatible system. In my more cynical moments, I wonder if Google realised this and killed it before it could compete with Google Docs.
Its a shame really, but I supposed they morphed the 'liveness' of it into Google Docs
I'm not sure Google gave it the chance it needed.
When it was finally widely available, most of the people I know were disappointed that it wasn't a social network, it was a weird document collaboration-message board hybrid that didn't use documents, posts, or any conventional metaphors and therefore didn't live up to its year of hype and anticipation building.