The service Google is calling “Drive” is available at the moment for PC and Mac, as well as on Android devices. Google promises an iPad and iPhone version soon (and judging by the way Google moves, it won’t take too long until Apple approves it). Depending on your country, Google Drive may or may not be available yet from the Google Drive service page. I personally had issues getting in and was presented with the following message with an email notification. Google says that the service will work seamlessly with Google Docs and it will allow you to upload any files you like. It will have an emphasis on collaboration – everyone will be able to use the same file, and edit it together even if it’s a large one (which seems quite normal, considering the Google Docs integration). Except for the Google Docs integration, it doesn’t seem to be too different from other services on the market, but the fact that it has Google’s name on it should make most users feel more confident that it won’t be vanishing anytime soon with their data. Also, everything is searchable (uh… yeah thanks Google), and you can bet that will make things much easier for very large collections of files. If you need to buy more space (beyond the 5GB of free space), similar to other Google Products you can buy more space. According to Google, buying extra storage space will increase your Gmail quota to 25 GB. The prices for extra storage are as follows:

25 GB – $2.49100 GB – $4.99200 GB – $9.99400 GB – $19.991 TB – $49.992 TB – $99.994 TB – $199.998 TB – $399.9916 TB – $799.99

These are all monthly rates. I’m curious what happens to your files that go over the 5 GB limit once you stop paying for a subscription. Today’s news comes after Microsoft announced yesterday the availability of 7GB for its SkyDrive. If you want the original 25GB of space they previously offered, make sure to opt-in quickly.

Anyway, the service does look interesting (I can’t wait to have mine available), and you can find out more about from the short presentation video Google has posted. You can watch it below. It is a mystery why so many have jumped on the Google bandwagon. Free? “If you are not paying for the product, you are the product.” Comment

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