Google Drive Versus SkyDrive Versus iCloud: Cloud Storage Battle Hotting up

Can Google Drive tackle SkyDrive and iCloud?(Photo: Mobile & Apps)

Cloud computing became popular in 2008, after the launch of Dropbox. Realizing the demand for cloud backup solutions, world’s top tech giants like Apple, Microsoft and Google have stepped into the cloud storage business with their very own cloud platforms – iCloud, SkyDrive and Google Drive. Numerous options are available in and consumers are finding it difficult to select the most effective .

To solve the confusion, we’re giving a short view of what features does these three cloud platforms possess.

Google Drive

After years of development, Google Drive is finally here. The platform is new and technology continues to be in early stages. Google Drive provides basic functionality of a cloud platform. Users get 5GB of free online storage on Google Drive. Gmail storage also gets bumped to 10GB on registering for Google Drive. Also you can get 1GB of free space on Picasa. Moreover selecting any premium plan will further increase Gmail storage to 25GB.

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Google Drive is heavily integrated into Google products including Android OS, Gmail and Google Docs. Some of the biggest advantages of Google Drive is Google Docs-like functionality. That you may share files with other users and everybody involved can edit a similar file simultaneously while changes appear at the screen instantly. There are 9 different premium plans to choose between starting from 25GB ($2.49/month) to 16TB ($799/month).

Google Drive app is offered on Windows, Mac and android. Google has announced to release an iOS app soon.

iCloud

Apple’s iCould offers a flawless experience on Mac and iOS devices (iPhone/iPad). It offers 5GB of free storage. Users can expand the storage to 25GB at a price of $20 per year. Maximum storage available to iCloud users is 50GB. The most important benefit of iCloud is that it’s heavily integrated into Apple products. Users can share files across Apple’s desktop and mobile platform. It also allows iPhone and iPad users to backup data online. Unfortunately, iCould has no support for other platforms. So iCloud is solely built for Apple products only.

SkyDrive

Microsoft’s SkyDrive made lots of buzz available in the market offering 25GB of free storage to its users. But earlier this month, Microsoft reduced the free storage for brand spanking new users to 7GB only. It’s integrated with Microsoft products like Office and Excel allowing users to share documents at a go. It also offers web based version of Microsoft Office allowing users to directly open and edit Office files in web browser.

In Windows 7, the functionality of SkyDrive is proscribed. But Windows 8 is anticipated to elevate the bar with deep SkyDrive integration. Aside from Windows, SkyDrive app is out there for Mac, iOS and Windows Phone OS.

So how does Google fare against Apple and Microsoft in cloud storage business?

Google Drive is new and everybody is keen to understand the way it fares against iCloud and SkyDrive. Google Drive offers as much as 16TB of online storage to its users, while expandable storage at iCloud and SkyDrive finally ends up at 50GB and 100GB respectively. However, SkyDrive offers the fitting overall value giving 25GB of expanded storage at an annual cost of $25, followed by Google Drive at $30, but you should pay for the full year ahead, while Google Drive has monthly subscriptions. In other words, in case of Google Drive, you are able to unsubscribe out of a premium plan anytime.

Google Drive also offers its own alternative to Microsoft Office. It offers a fixed of built-in software like word processor, spreadsheet tool, presentation software and an easy drawing program. It also allows different people to work on a project in a collaborative way.

What do you believe you studied? Which cloud storage service appeals to you? Leave your comments below.

(reported by Johnny Wills, edited by Dave Clark)

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