An Important Take on Google Offers
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: June 13, 2011

After Groupon rejected their reported $6 billion takeover offer, Google opted to offer their own version of the daily deals site called Google Offers. After several months of development, the site launched in Portland, Oregon and has been offering discounts before a larger nationwide rollout of the site.
Now, TechCrunch has offered a thorough review of the service. They are unimpressed, calling it a "cheap knockoff" of Groupon. Essentially, the site works just as Groupon does without any meaningful improvements. That is unusual for Google. When they introduced Google Maps, for example, the technology was far ahead of rivals like MapQuest. Since then, we've come to expect the best technology from Google. This latest service simply disappoints. 
TechCrunch is also disappointed by the response in Portland (sales have been unimpressive) because Google has poured a lot of money into promoting their Offers service. They estimate the tech giant has spent more than $1 million on promotion in Portland alone. 
Has anyone tried Google Offers? What did you think? For more, please read the rest of the article.