Exclusive: Google to Rebrand Blogger & Picasa into Google +

Mashable just learned that Google is intending to retire two of its popular and biggest branded products and incorporate them into Google branded services in next six weeks.

The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Google intends to rename Picasa “Google Photos” and Blogger will become “Google Blogs.” Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded.

According to their source, the move isn't without precedent; Google acquired Jotspot in 2006 and rebranded it as Google Sites in 2008 in 2007 and they also acquired VOIP platform GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice in 2009.

Picasa a very popular photo sharing site was acquired in 2004 and Blogger (co-founded by Evan Williams of Twitter) was acquire in 2003 and is one of the top most visited websites in the world.

As it now seems this drastic move will sadden some existing bloggers, but it gives Google the ability to completely integrate both services into Google+