14 DAY TRIAL // How many of you remember Froogle? Come on, don't be shy, by a raise of hands, let me see who still remembers the old price comparison service from Google. Not so many, I see. Or at least not as many as I had hoped.
Anyway, it's back on the homepage under its changed name, "Google Product Search." Doesn't that make you jump with joy? Still no? Ok, than let me tell you what it replaced in order to get the position it currently occupies. Google decided in its generosity that we don't need the Video link at the easy click of the mouse and decided to move it in the "More category" while it brought forth the old Froogle, probably because the holidays are coming and the product search would generate much more revenue.
Anyway, a number of interesting points of view have been mentioned, like that of Ionut Alex. Chitu that Froogle aka Google Product Search might be "more like a promo for Checkout than a real service." This Checkout mentioned is Google's PayPal-style competitor.
The Froogle link on the first page has been shunned ever since August 2006, when it was removed from the homepage and swapped with the video link: Justin Timberlake's "What goes around comes around" starts playing in my head. The most probable reason for the recent change, apart from the holiday shopping season approaching, of course, is that video search results are now tightly integrated in the "universal search" approach anyway: the YouTube video will be on top, along with a thumbnail and a plus button that will expand the video right on the page. Add to that the fact that many people start their video queries on the YouTube homepage and you might get the complete picture of the reason the video link was sent to the bin? erm? replaced.