Google reportedly preparing to launch ‘Google Drive’ cloud storage service
According to a Wednesday evening report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a new cloud storage service is being prepared for launch by Google to offer direct competition to startups Dropbox and SugarSync and other similar services.
As per the WSJ report, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the proceedings at the internet search biggie, the Google storage locker – dubbed ‘Google Drive’ – will likely be rolled out in the coming “weeks or months.”
Going by the information shared by the sources to WSJ, the Google Drive service will be offered for free for most of its users, provided that they do not require a lot of storage. However, there has been no disclosure about the storage limit for the ‘free’ service, or the cost at which Google will offer the service to those who need more storage.
Quite on the lines of the Dropbox service – which essentially creates a virtual drive that comprises files which are emulated on the users’ local hard drive and on cloud servers -, Google Drive will enable its users to store pictures, videos, documents and other files in the cloud. The users will then be able to access the files from computers and from Android-based smartphones and tablets.
Noting that Google Drive will essentially allow users to upload and store files to Google servers and access them from any place where they have an Internet connection, the WSJ report also revealed that the service will also be folded into Google Apps for enterprise customers.
