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Real-time NASDAQ quotes, long the province of online brokerages as a perk for their clients, come to Google Finance as a new, free feature.

The NASDAQ index and Google Finance teamed up on a pilot program to bring real time information from the tech-heavy index to the Internet. The exchange touted its status as the first US stock market to place real-time quotes on the Net for free.

"This is an important, and in many ways, overdue development in the U.S. securities markets," NASDAQ Executive Vice President Adena Friedman said in a statement. Google and other companies, including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network and financial web services firm Xignite, partnered on the deal.

Google Finance's Matthew Simmons reminded visitors to that service's blog how the company has wanted to offer this feature for a year and a half. Google discussed real-time quotes as a resource they have been working on since January 2007.

Delivering the last quoted price without the customary 15-20 minute delay will be a treat for anyone with an interest in the NASDAQ. Today probably wasn't the greatest day in the world to start the service, as NASDAQ and other markets in general finished a little over a percentage point down in trading.