The thing is, a few weeks back Reader could be considered core Google offerings.
Which is exactly why Google lost everyone's trust.
Not as core as Search or YouTube though...
Is this a joke? A product with less than 1-2 million active users can't honestly be considered a "core Google offering".
How many more million users are needed?
Anyone who would say that hasn't been paying attention. Not only had innovation on Reader slowed to a halt, but Google was also working on and prioritizing products that competed with it (G+). There is a reason why Feedly was able to move so quickly on replacing the Google Reader API, they were anticipating the shutdown of Reader for a while.
How so? RSS is definitely niche (especially when compared to those three), and I don't see how they would be making money off it, except via ads - turning off AdBlock, I don't see any.