Google to launch cloud storage service

A cloud-based storage service looms as search giant Google Inc.'s next major offering, to complement the rise of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

 

The new service - dubbed "Drive" - may rival storage services like Dropbox, The Wall Street Journal quoted sources familiar with the matter.

 

"Drive allows people to store photos, documents and videos on Google's servers so that they could be accessible from any Web-connected device and allows them to easily share the files with others, these people said. If a person wants to email a video shot from a smartphone, for instance, he can upload it to the Web through the Drive mobile app and email people a link to the video rather than a bulky file," the WSJ report said.

 

A Google spokesman declined to comment, the report added.

 

Drive may launch in the "coming weeks or months," and will be free for most consumers and businesses, but those who want to store a large amount of files may be charged a fee, according to the WSJ report.

 

It also said Drive is one of several recent attempts by Google to keep up with smaller companies in "hot" new areas.

 

Last year, Google released social network Google+, which aims to compete with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

 

Dropbox rival

 

The WSJ report said Google had previously considered offering a cloud-storage service.

 

In 2007, Google co-founder and now chief executive Larry Page worked with programmers to develop a service internally known as "G Drive," to let people store music files and other data online. It never launched, however.

 

At about the same time, Dropbox, founded in 2007 by two graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, skyrocketed in popularity.

 

It had more than 45 million members who saved one billion files every few days as of October 2011, the WSJ said.

 

At the time, Dropbox raised $250 million at a reported $4-billion valuation. Its CEO Drew Houston had said the company turned down a "nine-figure" buyout offer from Apple Inc. in 2009.

 

iCloud rival

 

Google's Drive service also would rival Apple's iCloud, which lets people store data online but only can be accessed through Apple devices.

 

"Google's service is expected to be added to its suite of online software that it sells to businesses, called Google Apps. That would also make Drive competitive with Box.net, which sells cloud storage to businesses," the WSJ said.

 

Some $830 million was spent on such file and back-up storage services worldwide in 2011. That figure may to grow by 47% to $1.2 billion this year, according to Gartner Inc.

 

The free version of Dropbox lets people store as much as two gigabytes of data. People can pay $10 or $20 a month to store up to 50 or 100 gigabytes, and hundreds of dollars for much more storage.

 

But a person familiar with the matter said Google's Drive aims to offer such storage for a smaller fee.

 

The WSJ also said that while Dropbox uses Amazon Inc.'s Web Services, a division that maintains a network of computers that stores data online, Google already has a massive cloud infrastructure to store and power all its services.

 

Google's present services range from Web search and video site YouTube to Web applications such as Google Docs, which lets people create and work on documents online. — TJD, GMA News