Google will soon release an online picture sharing and storage service independent of the Google+ social network, thus allowing users to post images to Facebook and Twitter directly, says a report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the plans. The internet firm will probably launch the new photo tool at its upcoming annual software developer’s conference in San Francisco.
Google to battle Facebook on one more front
Google, which is looking to ramp up its product lineup to gain market share from Facebook and others, will be able to compete with rivals even more effectively with a picture sharing app. Facebook, which acquired mobile photo sharing service Instagram in 2012, has given the group a free hand in managing the operations. As a result, the user base of Instagram currently stands over 300 million.
For Google+, the photo service was its most appealing feature as the tool enables unlimited photo uploads along with automatically enhancing or applying effects to them. Google, like Flickr and Amazon, also offers free backup of smartphone camera rolls. After being detached from Google+, the newer photos service is expected to offer easier posting and sharing of the images on Facebook and Twitter.
Bloomberg was the first to report the disengagement of photo tool from Google+ last year. In March this year, Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said that the firm’s photo and social-stream features would probably become a separate feature.
How can Google compete with rivals?
Google will have to prove how far it can go comparison to the likes of Instagram and other photo tools. Facebook acquired Instagram, and provided it a perfect base and platform, retaining the much-loved and efficiently built-in image edit tool. Flickr, on the other hand, has a loyal base of photographers to whom the tool offers a storage capacity of 1TB for free, and Snapchat captured market share with one to one image texting.
Talking about Google, its performance can be seen as a mixed in terms of coming up with new features. There are apps such as Wave, Knol or Buzz to compete with Google services such as Gmail, Calendar or Docs. However, the ability of Google to offer services and storage at relatively lower prices is something that would work in favor of the internet giant.
As of now there is no relevant comment from Google over the news, except for the usual statement that the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.
