Google has officially launched their new cloud-based file storage service, Google Drive, offering 5GB of free storage space to anyone with a Google account. The service includes desktop clients for both Mac and PC, and an official iOS app is due in the coming weeks.
With Google Drive, you can:
- Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations […]
- Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices […]
- Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition(OCR) technology […]
Google Drive (found at drive.google.com) is meant to compete with services such as Dropbox, SugarSync, and Microsoft SkyDrive, although it’s unclear exactly how it compares blow-for-blow as we haven’t yet had a chance to use the service and directly compare it to the competition.
The service integrates with Google Docs, and documents are not counted against your storage limit. In addition to the free 5GB of storage, Google also offers paid upgrades for 25 GB, 100 GB or 1 TB storage options at the rates of $2.49, $4.99 or $49.99 per month, respectively.
For more details, check out the announcement on the official Google blog, or sign up for Google Drive today!