Google Set to Unveil Standalone Photo Service at I/O: Report

A new report has claimed that Google may announce a new online-based photo sharing and storage service at the upcoming I/O event. Google has been rumoured for some time to be working on a standalone service focused on images that will be independent of Google+.

Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the plans, that the new web-based photo service will not be a part of the Google+ social platform. The report also suggests that the new Google service will allow users to share images to Facebook and Twitter.

Google has been aggressively pushing its own social network, Google+, against the likes of Facebook, Flickr, and Instagram. The search engine giant however has not received positive response from Google+ users. The report speculates that the new web-based photo sharing and storage service will only be able to directly compete with similar popular services only when if it is independent from Google+.

Katie Watson, a spokeswoman for Google, declined to comment on the matter.

In line with the current report, Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President at Google, in March had revealed plans to separate Photos and Hangouts from the Google+ platform.

Google+ appeared to have received its biggest setback last year when Vic Gundotra, the executive credited for bringing Google+ service to life, announced his exit from the company. His exit even led many to believe that the Google+ service might be approaching its demise. David Besbris, the new head of Google+, however dismissed any speculations and claimed that the social platform was here to stay.

Google's I/O conference scheduled on May 28-29 in San Francisco is expected to see some major announcements including Android M, the next possible Android version for mobiles, tablets, and chrome books.