Google is probably in a good mood ahead of the Google I/O event as it announced that it will triple the storage space available to free users across GMail, Google+ and Drive. This move makes Google the leading provider of maximum cloud space to users for free rocketing past rivals such as Dropbox, Windows Skydrive, Apple iCloud, etc. The announcement follows a Google Drive update from last week that allows you to save files from the Web directly to Drive. The reason behind Google’s move as mentioned in it’s blog post is
Life gets a bit easier when your Google products work well together—whether that’s inserting a Drive file into an email or sharing a photo from Drive on Google+. As this experience becomes more seamless, separate storage doesn’t make as much sense anymore. So instead of having 10 GB for Gmail and another 5 GB for Drive and Google+ Photos, you’ll now get 15 GB of unified storage for free to use as you like between Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos.
As of now, there is no concrete date from which the changes will be applicable but instead these changes are expected to rolled out “over the next couple of weeks”, which is quite understandable considering the mammoth userbase Google has. Additional storage space can be purchased at $2.49/month for 25GB and $4.99/month for 100GB.
Business users who use Google Apps are not left behind either, as they get 30 GB of unified storage across GMail, Google+ and Drive. By simplifying cloud storage and throwing in a few more GBs Google’s strategy is sure to retain existing customers to stay within its walls and is definitely tempting for users of other cloud storage providers to atleast give Google Drive a chance. We wonder how the other players like Windows Skydrive and Dropbox will react to this. Will they start pampering customers with more storage space too? What do you think of it.
