Google Introduces Drive, A Cloud Storage Service

Google's latest: Google Drive, a place in the cloud where consumers and marketers can share stuff. It allows users to search by keyword and filter by file type. The technology can recognize text in scanned documents using optical character recognition technology, as well as image recognition, so users can search on photos dragged and dropped into the Drive.

Think of a mainframe server connected to dump terminals. Only the mainframe is the smartphone, tablet or desktop; the server, the cloud. Marketers don't need to know anything about Windows DOS to work in Google Docs, which the company built into Drive.

Google Docs on the Drive allows people to collaborate on projects in real-time in documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

It could become a difficult sell to marketers and agencies. Some refuse to use DoubleClick because they don't want Google to see conversion data.

"It's more likely that consumers will use Google's storage service. I doubt there will be an advertising play here because of the privacy concerns," said Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman. "As with most Google products, you have to ask yourself how much data you're comfortable sharing with Google."

Marketers can get started with 5GB of storage for free, enough to store a handful of high-res photos. Upgrade to 25GB for $2.49 per month, 100GB for $4.99 per month or one terabyte for $49.99 per month. With an upgrade to a paid account, the Gmail account storage also expands to 25GB.

Next story loading loading..