Google’s GDrive Makes a (Brief) Appearance

Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) long-rumored GDrive cloud storage business may still be on track.

A Google source code file suggests that Google is indeed working on the online storage service, and also offers some indication of what the company has in mind for it.

The service has been rumored for nearly three years, but it has yet to surface officially. This is hardly a green field; in fact, it’s probably fairer to say the online storage market is cluttered with many products, from Carbonite to EMC’s (NYSE: EMC) Mozy to Backblaze to Sugar Sync and many more.

An astute blogger noted the reference to GDrive in a file used by Google Pack. The file, a JavaScript file, includes “localized information which is sent to translators.” The file has since been changed to remove any GDrive references, but the Google Operating System blog grabbed a screenshot of the code.

The header info read “GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents. GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device — be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone.”

A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on the code, and said there is no announcement forthcoming.

A former Google staffer, now with another firm, said GDrive “definitely exists,” but said Google is struggling with what to do with it, including whether it even releases it. The company already offers storage services in specific areas: Picassa for photos and for documents and files related to its Google Apps suite of programs.

As of now, Picassa and Apps files are siloed, separate from each other.

“That won’t fly, says Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies. “They need to bring it together under one cloud.”

And more than that, Google needs a compelling argument, since there are so many competitors out there. Bajarin likes Sugar Sync quite a bit and sees no reason to leave it. “The big question for me is can they design it so it becomes the center of my cloud services, not just the center of my storage, but a place where I activate apps, an app store, just a slew of things when I connect from any Web based browser,” said Bajarin.

“Just doing another Sugar Sync is not a big whoop. The question is, ‘can you make it the center of my personal cloud universe’? And that we don’t know,” he added.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com