• by Shankar Gupta , October 4, 2006

Amazon.com has stripped its search engine, A9, of several of its distinguishing characteristics, including its distinctive photo-mapping feature and personalized search histories, the company said Tuesday.

A9 was known for offering a photo-mosaic map of thousands of miles of storefronts in major U.S. cities, including New York, Washington, Phoenix, Ariz., Miami, and Los Angeles. But, although the feature was critically praised, A9 never was able to gain traction with search users.

Amazon's A9 also discontinued a search-recall feature, which allowed users who signed in to call up their prior detailed search histories. Amazon also shed A9's Yellow Pages listings, as well as an A9 toolbar.

In addition to shedding features, Amazon tweaked the search engine by adding a 'continuous scroll' that displays all the search results on a single page. The interface also has been reorganized to allow easier customization of searches by letting users select from the more than 400 sources of data that A9 culls for its search results.

A spokesman for Amazon said that the changes were made "as a result of a shift in priorities to areas where A9.com can provide the greatest benefit for customers."