Google is hoping to build the world’s largest digital filing cabinet in the latest attempt to deepen people’s dependence on its services.
The Internet search leader’s latest product stores personal documents, photos, videos and a wide range of other digital content on Google’s computers. By keeping their files in massive data centres, users will be able to call up the information on their smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and just about any other Internet-connected device.
Google announced the long-rumoured service on Tuesday. Available immediately, Google Drive is offering the first five gigabytes of storage per account for free. Additional storage will be sold for prices starting at $2.49 per month 25 gigabytes.
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Google Inc. will be competing against similar storage services offered by Microsoft, Apple and rapidly growing start-ups such as Dropbox.