Froogle

Going Public?

[HayMeadows]

When is the last time we had a hint of when this was going to be available to the public?

I can almost hear the opening bell.

[internetdude]

Officially Froogle is still in beta and there is no indication from Google as to when they will integrate it into Google.com. If you have heard something, I'd be curious to know where you heard it from?

[HayMeadows]

Haven't heard a thing, just hoping to find out more. I'm really at a loss for why they can't go public with Froogle now. Everything seems to be working great - and the story line fits.

Go public with Froogle just before Christmas.
Google IPO in February. The apex of Google!

[caustic]

"Froogle" was just a marketing ploy to get people interested. When it goes live it will be on google.com as a tab next to News as "Shopping". It makes no sense to dilute the brand (and have a separate site).

[ukgimp]

it is getting there

The Age [theage.com.au]

[johnser]

I asked them last week & got the usual generic response:

"We do not currently have a date set to release Froogle from beta"

If they're ever going to release it, wouldn't Q4 (pre-Xmas) be the best time?
J

[Quadrille]

Google are much too sensible to go live before Christmas. Innovative they may be, but they'll run round the block to avoid adverse publicity.

Suppose they launch mid-November and it all goes wrong?

Much more likely to have a quiet launch after Christmas, and save the publicity for 2004 Q4 - too late now for this year.

(And I don't think The Age added anything new; just chucking in a mention to show the journo was on the case!)

[HayMeadows]

Lets just say, they'll make SEO's very happy if they go public before Christmas!

Personally, I think Froogle rocks, and is more than ready for public consumption. Just imagine how much they'll eat into the competition's Christmas shopping if they went live now. C'mon, Google you can do it <g>.

[jimbeetle]

When is the last time we had a hint of when this was going to be available to the public?

Just a couple of weeks ago. See this WW thread [webmasterworld.com]: "...no plans to launch Froogle before this holiday season."

[HayMeadows]

Logic says, they'll go public before Christmas. Doesn't it? Why wait until January? There's so much more of a benefit for them to release it now, one would think.

[Edouard_H]

The observation in this thread was pretty enticing: [webmasterworld.com...] An experiment to be sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar in the near future.

(The screen shot mentioned is no longer in jimsthoughts profile.)

[steve40]

I think Froogle will be used as part of google IPO
lets say goes like this
1 google gives IPO date
2 MSN trounces with brand new search bla bla
3 IBM buys someone and annouces some of the stuff happened in background
4 Yahoo makes announcement
ALL This time GOOGLE IPO suffering in PR
GOOGLE trounces them all with Froogle

just my 2 cents worth

steve40

[Chndru]

"We do not currently have a date set to release Froogle from beta"

They dont need to release it from beta for public display. Google News is still a beta.

[ThomasB]

Maybe GoogleGuy can answer the question?

[jimsthoughts]

I put the screenshot in my profile again for all to see.

I'm actively working on getting my clients set up per the importance of this....beyond the usual SEO stuff I'm gearing up for Froogle first, then Inktomi.