Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands, such as Blogger and Picasa, in the next four to six weeks. The search giant plans to rename them as Google products, unifying the company's brand in time for the public launch of Google+, according to two sources familiar with the matter cited by Mashable.
Blogger and Picasa aren't going away – they are two very popular Google products after all – instead, Google intends to rename them as Google Photos and Google Blogs, respectively. Several other Google brands will also be likely affected by the move, but it's not yet clear which ones.
YouTube will not, however, be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Videos, Google's answer to YouTube before it gave up and bought the video sharing service, in May 2010.
This rebranding effort from Google is hardly the first time we're seeing such a move. Google acquired JotSpot in October 2006 and rebranded it as Google Sites in February 2008. In July 2007, Google acquired VOIP platform GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice in March 2009.
Blogger and Picasa were also Google acquisitions, although both companies have owned by Google for far longer. Blogger was acquired in February 2003 and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. Picasa was acquired in July 2004.
The rebranding will likely upset some existing customers, but Google wants to do it anyway so that it can completely integrate both services into Google+. The company launched the social network as a field trial last month, with an obvious attempt to take on Facebook and Twitter.
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