Mountain View, California — Striving to bring all its products under one roof and unify its brand, global search engine giant Google is planning to say goodbye to some of their non-Google names, for the public launch of Google+. Two of its most popular properties reportedly getting a new name are Picasa and Blogger, Mashable is reporting.
When Google unveiled Google+ into beta, it appeared as it was only about competing with Facebook and creating a popular alternative social media network. But, the move is part of a broader effort to combine its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.
According to influention tech blog Mashable citing anonymous sources, Blogger and Picasa will not be discarded completely, of course, they are two of Google’s most popular products. Instead, Google intends to rename Picasa as: “Google Photos” and Blogger will become “Google Blogs.” Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Video, its failed web video service, in May.
Over Google’s relatively short history as a company it has acquired a number of online services that have remained popular and kept their original names. The two products Picasa and Blogger were also Google acquisitions, although both the products have been part of the Google empire for far longer.
The search engine giant Google acquired Picasa in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Its technology, which can be downloaded or used online, helps users edit and manage photos.
In addition, Google bought Blogger owner Pyra Labs in 2003, for an undisclosed sum, which was (co-founded by Evan Williams of Twitter) and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. Although the rebranding could upset some existing customers, it also gives Google the ability to completely integrate both services into Google+.
According to Mashable, the rebranding has not yet been confirmed by Google officially, but it is believed that the announcement and change will be made public within 6 weeks. Although the rebranding could also impact other services with the only definite exclusion being YouTube at the moment.
Surprisingly, this brand unification effort will be the largest in company history — it has never renamed a property as large as Blogger. The popular blog creation service has been receiving a lot of extra love recently. In March, Google announced that Blogger would receive a major overhaul. We doubt many people expected that the overhaul would include a rebranding, though.
However, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google declined CNET’s request to comment on Mashable’s report.
While losing such prominent names seems a little crazy, but, Google is betting a lot on Google+ and wants to better integrate its existing services around it. Therefore, come the public launch of Google+ (no more invites required) these services will also be relaunched.
Surprisingly, this brand unification effort will be the largest in company history — it has never renamed a property as large as Blogger. The popular blog creation service has been receiving a lot of extra love recently. In March, Google announced that Blogger would receive a major overhaul. We doubt many people expected that the overhaul would include a rebranding, though.
However, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google declined CNET’s request to comment on Mashable’s report.