INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS
28 January 2011 -- US Internet giant Google (NASDAQ NASDAQ
in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :GOOG) will drop its property search service in February due to its weak usage and an increase in the number of high-quality specialised services in this area, the Financial Times reports.
Google's property service, which was launched in 2009 as a feature of Maps, allowed web-surfers in the US, the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to search for property for sale or rent in their countries. The website offered a list of search results, along with photos of the property.
The news of the closure was welcomed by rival property search engines, with shares in UK company Rightmove (LON LON Longitude
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Analysts had voiced their scepticism that Google would be able to maintain a property search engine given that this requires keeping a large database covering real estate in a country as big as the US.
