Google has today launched a new addition to its online storage line-up with the release of Google Drive, a free service for cloud file storage and sharing. The new service offers users 5GB of online storage for free and is integrated with other Google services such as GMail, Chrome OS and Google Docs.
The new service is essentially an immediate challenger to services like Dropbox and iCloud and is clearly designed to take them on by offering substantially more storage upon initial sign up. In addition, upgraded storage options, maxing out at 16GB, are also competitively priced when compared to Dropbox. However, there are no iOS apps covering Google Drive at the current time, although Google suggests that they are coming soon on the Google Blog.
While some Dropbox users may immediately jump ship and subscribe themselves to the Google Drive service, it may be worth holding off complete dedication to Drive, even just for the moment. The lack of iOS apps for the service at launch is a disappointment, and may indicate that the service is not quite ready for primetime. However, the cheaper storage is attractive ($4.99/month for 100GB on Google Drive whereas the same storage on Dropbox will cost you $19.99 per month), so changing to Drive may be a serious consideration for some.
iCloud doesn’t even feature at the moment, due to limited functionality.
Perhaps your most immediate reaction to the news is “Did Dropbox just get served?”
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