For anyone yet to be indoctrinated into the Google Drive Ecosystem, let us tell you, it's one heck of a service. 5GB of free cloud storage, with online editing for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings. Microsoft also offers an online service, even online Office web apps, however, where Google Drive comes out on-top is its simplicity and expandability through the web store and powerful scripting.
One area where Drive is lacking, however, is mobile integration. App support has been basic, with very limited subsets of Drive allowing for viewing of documents only. Not too long ago, Android received support for basic document editing, however, features such as tables and embedded video were unsupported.
Yesterday, Google announced its latest app refresh, introducing 'basic' support for tables along with the ability to add and reply to document comments for collaborative working. Most importantly and, showing its commitment to customers of all inclinations, Drive's iPhone and iPad apps have now been upgraded to support the same kind of basic editing functionality seen in the Android app, along with new enhanced presentation viewing modes and file organisation functionality.
This is a big step in the right direction for Drive, as serious support for multiple platforms places it in good stead against competitor, Microsoft, who, whilst having a SkyDrive app, lacks mobile editing functionality and features to enable on-the-move collaborative working.
Google will have to up its game significantly, however, as Microsoft will be introducing deep integration into Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets, something which Google has failed to capitalise on in Android.
