Google started as a search engine, but it’s clear to all users that they’ve become a lot more. From Google Books to Gmail to Docs to Voice to the recently launched Google+ social network, the search engine giant has become a technological titan that has a foothold in nearly every sector of the internet. As part of the company’s ongoing efforts, however, Larry Page (Google’s CEO) has made a decision to focus the company efforts onto a smaller number of high-priority projects. As part of the need to prioritize, the company is retiring a number of major projects.

Google Labs is the next service to be removed. As a “playground where our more adventurous users can play around with prototypes,” the retirement of Labs indicates the closure of a large number of more minor projects. However, Google’s Bill Coughran (SVP for Research and Systems Infrastructure), explained that the company “believe[s] that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead.”

As clarified on the Google blog post announcing the retirement of Google Labs, “We don’t have any plans to change in-product experimentation channels like Gmail Labs or Maps Labs. We’ll continue to experiment with new features in each of our products.” Meanwhile, the labs that are exclusive to Google Labs itself will either be retired completely or integrated into existing product lines. Select projects will also become stand-alone; several mobile projects, specifically, will remain available for independent download.

These changes are clearly part of a larger initiative that centers around Google+. Google+, as a major opportunity for Google to either sink or swim, is attempting to unify the Google brand in both design and features. This unification effort requires the company to trim the fat – which they’re doing, relentlessly.