Google to Rename Picasa, Blogger

The names of two popular Google services, Picasa and Blogger, will soon go away, although the services themselves will remain key components of Google's product family.

A Mashable report today says the Picasa-Blogger rebranding is part of the search company's new Google+ social networking strategy: Non-Google product names are being retired and replaced -- naturally -- with Google names.

 Picasa, an image editor, and Blogger, a blogging platform, are two of Google's most popular free services. Within six weeks, Google will rename Picasa "Google Photos," and rebrand Blogger as "Google Blogs," Mashable says.
Google, when contacted by PCWorld, declined to comment on the report.

The rebranding makes sense, as users of these services -- Picasa in particular -- may be unaware that they're using a Google product. The expected integration of Picasa and Blogger with Google+ will likely coincide with the upcoming public launch of the social networking service, the report says.
Google has renamed its services in the past. For instance, VoIP service GrandCentral, purchased by Google in 2007, was relaunched as Google Voice in 2009.

Google purchased Picasa in 2004. It acquired Blogger when it bought Pyra Labs in 2003.