Google Drive to Offer 5 GB of Free Online Storage

The Google Drive rumors have been around for years but there are strong indicators that it will finally be coming in April. A leaked screen shot over at TalkAndroid suggests it will be coming soon and offer 5 GB of free storage, not 1 GB as previously reported.

Details surrounding the upcoming drive have been a little mixed. We ran with GigaOM's report claiming Google Drive would offer 1 GB of storage, but TalkAndroid quickly coughed up a screenshot showing 2 GB of free space. It was speculated that Google's virtual locker would work like Dropbox, adding a little extra storage for every referral that signs up. Ultimately the user would receive a max storage limit of 5 GB, lower than what Dropbox promises.

But now another Google Drive screenshot has emerged showing a default of 5 GB. At this point, it may be that Google is merely increasing the capacity based on the number of growing beta users, and user feedback the various screenshots could merely have been taken during specific points in the beta testing. So far the service is still on track to open its doors to the masses during the week of April 16 although Google has not made an official announcement.
 
 Is Google Drive even necessary? It's definitely a good way to drive up sales thanks to those willing to pay for additional storage. Yet Google already provides free storage to its current users: almost 8 GB for Gmail alone, enough space for up to 20,000 songs via Google Play, free storage for purchased Google Play ebooks and free storage for Google Play Android apps. Even Google Docs coughs up 1 GB for files before charging extra. Thus Google Drive would seemingly only be needed for those who don't want to use Google's other services.

GigaOM's report from last week said Google Drive will launch for Google Apps customers, and will be domain specific. It will also feature a built-in API so that users can store content from other third-party apps. But so far the true nature of Google Drive and how it will be an added benefit to current Google users is unknown at this point. 

 Google Drive will be entering a crowded space in the online storage market, as Dropbox appears to be in the lead and companies like SugarSync are trying to carve out some room. Box is also gaining traction in the enterprise space and it has done multiple offers where it gives iOS and Android users 50 GB of free storage. How will Google’s offering stand out?

Well, I believe Google will be able to one-up Dropbox and others on additional storage price. Eventually, I also believe that Google will bake this into the native version of Android, maybe as soon as Android Jelly Bean.