Google to Take on Apple’s AirDrop with ‘Copresence’
Recent reports have hinted that Google has been working on a new service that would allow Android users to share media with other nearby devices, even with the iOS devices like iPhones and iPads instead of gadgets running Google’s mobile OS only.
That means, this feature will allow us to exchange photos, music, contacts, directions, messages and other data between cross-platform devices easily. It is said that Google is planning to optimize this service with location information, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which is rumored to be based around the same kind of technology on which Chromecast works.
A tipster leaked the information saying that the service is codenamed as “Copresence”. Code buried in the Google Play Services’ latest version, an app on Android responsible for keeping much of Google’s core functionality working, reportedly revealed the upcoming feature, along with a few images that go with the service.
The illustrations that you see below are possibly for the Google Play Services. These are presumably designed to inform users about the service, and they suggest that “Copresence” will work with both Android and iOS devices.
Along with this, GigaOM has pointed out a number of references to the feature in bug reports for a developer version of Google Chrome, suggesting that the service could work with the popular browsers and computers as well. The new service sounds a lot like Apple’s AirDrop on iOS, which allows for sharing between iOS devices that are close to one another, across networks and with the option of sharing beyond your address book.
The fact that the new data sharing service by Google will be cross-platform has already created a stir. If Copresence is a real deal, we might see it first with a limited number of Google’s products, most notably Google Drive.
