Google Shuffles Prices of Mini Search Appliances

Google Inc., apparently looking for the right price for its Mini search appliances, unveiled a low-end device in the product line that's 60 percent less than a similar product launched more than a year ago.

The Mountain View, Calif., company's latest Mini for small businesses searches up to 50,000 documents and costs $1,995, including a year of support.

In January 2005, Google introduced a similar 50,000-document Mini that sold for $4,995. A year later, it unveiled new versions with capacities of 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 documents for $2,995, 5,995 and $8,995, respectively.

Google's latest Mini drops the price of the original by $3,000.

Google also sells an enterprise-level appliance that can search up to 15 million documents. The device starts at $30,000 for searching up to 500,000 documents. That product line in January 2005, sold for $32,000 for searching up to 150,000 documents, including two years of support.Within the enterprise search market, Google faces tough competition from vendors with more mature products, such as Verity Inc., analysts say.