'Google Drive' May Be Coming to Android Phones Near You (ContributorNetwork)

Google already offers ways to keep your documents and music synced up online, via Google Docs and Google Music (Beta). These "cloud" services let you read, write or listen to the same stuff whether you're at home or using your Android smartphone or tablet.

If you want to have access to your other files, though, you have to use a third-party service like Dropbox or MG Siegler of TechCrunch, Google's been working on a "Google Drive" app for years ... and it may be almost ready to hit the market.

It's not just Google, either

Companies like HTC are starting to realize that people want access to all of their stuff, everywhere. That's why the Taiwanese smartphone maker recently partnered with Dropbox, giving everyone who buys a phone with the newest version of HTC Sense an extra 3 GBs of storage on Dropbox for free. (That's 5 GBs total, in case you're not counting.)

Microsoft has had its own Windows Live Skydrive for awhile now, but it's kind of lacking in mobile phone apps. Although someone in New Zealand did point out that an app might be on its way ... to Windows Phone 7, natch.

Meanwhile, Amazon and Apple are both working on their own cloud solutions. Amazon's Cloud Drive and Cloud Player (like Google Music) will probably both be featured on its upcoming Android tablet, although only the Cloud Player is affixed an "i" to the cloud, but its iCloud's still under construction.

So who will want Google Drive?

The likeliest candidates? People who already use a ton of Google devices and services. Chromebook owners especially, all eight of them (I kid). No more storing files on SD cards! Now you'll be able to get to your PDFs and MP3s anywhere.

For that matter, Siegler notes that code has been found in Chromium (the open-source project that underlays Google's Chrome web browser) which suggests that it might integrate with Google Drive; the same way you sync your bookmarks across computers, you might be able to sync all your files too, or at least a folder.

The biggest downside?

Google already knows everything else about you, including what sites you have bookmarked if you use Chrome/ium. Now it's going to know what's on your hard drive, too. Microsoft may have built Skydrive, but Google appears to be building Skynet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110926/us_ac/9399767_google_drive_may_be_coming_to_android_phones_near_you

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