Google has reportedly called off its "Google Answers" service that allows people to submit questions over the Internet that researchers answer for a fee.

A Google blog said that Google is a company fueled by innovation, which means trying lots of new things all the time, and which sometimes also means reconsidering the goals of a product.

The company said it will stop accepting new questions from the coming week, while the answers to questions already posted will be accepted until the end of the year. In addition, the archive of questions and answers will also be maintained online for browsing.

However, the company has not yet disclosed any specific reason behind discontinuing the service, which was launched in 2002. It was amongst the first non-search services launched by Google.

The Google Answers service was started with a rough idea from Larry Page, and a small 4-person team, which eventually turned into reality in less than 4 months. Users can submit their questions on Google Answers, and specify how much amount they are willing to pay for an answer. The questions are then answered by a group of around 500 researchers selected by Google.

The industry is of the view that Google Answers has not been as successful as Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! Answers is free, and any registered user can answer questions posted on this service. So it generates a community feeling amongst its users. While Google Answers is charged as the answers come from a group of researchers selected by Google.

But Google says the service has been a great experiment, which has provided them with a lot of material for developing future products.

And, Google and Yahoo! haven't been the only ones in this space. Microsoft launched a similar free service in August, called QnA, which is still available in beta.