Google has said that it's going to rename its less-than-successful product price comparison site Froogle. The peripheral add-on to Google, which is accessible via the search engine's front page, has not been overwhelmed with users since it launched in 2002.
From now on it will be referred to as the magnolia-flavoured Google Product Search Beta .
"Today, we're making some changes to how we help users find things to buy. You may be familiar with our product Froogle (a pun on "frugal")," reads the obituary on the Official Google Blog.
"Froogle offers a lot of great functionality and has helped many users find things to buy over the years, but the name caused confusion for some because it doesn't clearly describe what the product does."
Renewed focus
Google says it's taking the opportunity to refocus the user experience on providing the most "comprehensive, relevant results in a clean, simple, easy-to-use user interface".
Google Product Search is different from many product comparison sites like Kelkoo and NexTag in the way that it does not charge companies to list their products, or allow companies to pay for their products to be displayed higher up the list. In that respect it is pretty unbiased and reliable.
