Google Announces Google Drive for iOS and Offline Editing for Google Docs
The search giant also announced a version of its Chrome Web browser for iOS, and demonstrated it running on Apple's iPad and iPhone.The offline text editing is available now in Google Docs, and Google is working on offline editing for its spreadsheet and presentation applications, the company said in its day-two keynote at the conference.
The updates mean Google Docs users will be able to edit documents on a plane, for example, and then synch the changes to the cloud when they reconnect at the other end.
The offline capabilities will step up the competition between Google and Microsoft. Google emphasized that Docs is a viable product for the enterprise as well as consumers: Five million businesses are using its cloud applications, it said.
A Google Drive app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch will be available from the App store later Thursday, Google said. It's also developing a version for its own Chrome OS.
Chrome OS Improvements
It can also index images. Bavor showed how a user can store their photos from a vacation in Egypt in Google Drive, for instance, and then search for "pyramid" and locate photos with pyramids in them, even though the photos are not tagged with the word "pyramid."
New Ways to Collaborate
Referring to users' increasing tendency to use multiple devices, Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and apps, said, "It's not just at home: It's the same person who leaves home and shows up at work, and they demand the same experience."
The company also announced an on-demand computing service called the Google Compute Engine, which will compete with Amazon Web Services' EC2 offering.
Cameron Scott covers search, web services and privacy for The IDG News Service. Follow Cameron on Twitter at CScott_IDG.
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