Google Analytics stops at 234,725 accounts

According to the Google Analytics "sign up" page, they have temporarily disallowed people from signing up.  They also removed the "Add new profile" link from inside analytics which previously allowed a single account to track up to 40 different Web sites.  With 234,725 Analytics accounts created (and probably over 200,000 additional profiles), Google has went from tracking zero to almost half a million in about a week.

This is a huge amount of data to process. Anybody who has tried WebTrends knows the processing power Google will need to get all these accounts caught up.  Unfortunately, this delay users have been experiencing since it's launch is giving this product a bad reputation.

Google Says:

"Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. In the meantime, please submit your name and email address and we will notify you as soon as we are ready to add new accounts. Thank you for your patience."

There are a lot of disgruntled Analytics users who are growing more dissatisfied each day.  Once Google has the capacity it needs to process this heaping pile of data, this service will likely be a success rather than a failure. 

As others have said, an "invitation only" approach, similar to GMail, would have made much more sense.  Not only would they be able to keep up with the demand, but it would have generated "good" buzz.  Hopeful users would hear the success stories from those who have accounts, and would do anything to get their hands on an invitation.

The service itself, if it had data, is nice.  It provides a lot of powerful tools that help you analyze your site traffic, content and marketing campaigns which can help you optimize your Web site and generate more sales or leads.   Google Analytics is the only free service that provides this level of tracking.