Google Finance Upgrade on the Money

Though she acknowledges that the reception to Google Finance has not been spectacular so far, she says that the site was launched sooner than it could have been with an eye to working out kinks based on user feedback.

Still, for Google, a company with some 85 identifiable products, the time draws nigh to decide what to keep and what to kill. Letting products languish under the label of experimentation will ultimately drag down the Google brand.

The company recently showed that it was capable of doing away with struggling projects when it quashed its lagging Google Answers service -- the first time a significant Google project had been publicly scrapped.

But the company should take the other road when it comes to Google Finance.

A win there would give it more than a strong product in a fast-growing field -- it would show that the company was able to apply to successfully leverage its deep technical roots into richer media environments it will increasingly find itself competing in.

Trimming down on many other product lines may be the order for Google. But doubling down on its Finance site could be a promising investment.