Pixorial leads with Google Drive: Will developers follow?

When Pixorial updated its video-sharing iOS app last month, the company added a feature its competitors couldn’t yet match: Integration with the new Google Drive cloud storage service. “One of our main goals is to eventually allow people to have their videos anywhere, anytime, on any device,” said John Martyniak, Pixorial’s senior vice president of products and services, later adding: “A lot of people use Dropbox, or they’re starting to use Google Drive. For us to be able to add our service to that, it’s a no-brainer.” Pixorial was first out of the gate because Google designated it a “launch partner” for the service. But will other iOS app developers follow? And with cloud-based storage services proliferating—Google Drive is joined by Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s SkyDrive in chasing a market that has been dominated until now by services like Dropbox and Box—how will developers choose? Among app developers surveyed by Macworld in recent days, there is wariness. “I don’t think I will be adding any additional cloud services to the app just yet,” said Samer Abousalbi, co-founder of Capparsa, developer of the Dropbox-integrated Compositions writing app. “I mostly don’t want to chase new drive services every time they come out, because it complicates supporting the app.”