14 DAY TRIAL // The battle for the most popular online shopping service on the Internet started a few days ago when the giant portal Yahoo announced a partnership with PayPal, a deal meant to improve the Yahoo search engine. Using the agreement, the company updated the search technology with a new feature, allowing the users to buy products straight from the SERP. As you know, Google owns Checkout, a product that was regarded as a PayPal rival since the search giant announced the product. Now, Google struggles to keep the services updated and compete with Yahoo but Checkout needs several improvements. The company made the first step today by renaming Froogle as Google Product Search, offering the same functions as the old service.
"So we're renaming Froogle as Google Product Search. We're taking the opportunity to refocus the user experience on providing the most comprehensive, relevant results in a clean, simple, easy-to-use UI. We're also excited about how Google Checkout can help searchers have a fast and secure purchase experience, so the new interface makes it easier to buy with Checkout," Marissa Mayer, VP, Search & User Experience, and Jeff Bartelma, Product Manager, Google Product Search, sustained on the official blog of the company.
Although there is no official reason for the move, the Google employees sustained they renamed the product because Froogle caused a name confusion with the company's name. To make things easier, Google changed the name of the product to Google Product Search but it didn't modify the way it works, allowing users to use the same powerful functions of Checkout. This is only the first part of the Yahoo vs. Google battle but I'm almost 100 percent sure it will continue with even more improvements and updates for the two solutions.