Smile for Photovine, Google's photo sharing iOS app
Never content to leave a market untapped, Google is taking on Instagram with Wednesday's public availability of photo sharing tool Photovine, currently only for Apple iOS by way of the iTunes App Store.
If you were one of the chosen few who landed an invite over the last month or so Photovine was in beta, this may not be news to you. But Photovine differs from those other photo sharing services by pooling your pictures into various topic-based pools, called "vines."
Here's Photovine's own definition of a vine, from its FAQ:
A vine is like a constantly growing family of photos connected through a common caption created by you, your friends, and people all over the world. Some examples of vines could be: "What Weekends Are Made Of", "Secret Stuffed Animal", "Party People" or "Love of My Life".
As people add photos to vines, they tell their own stories about the moments, images, and ideas that define our lives in a way that's social, creative, and fun.
What's really interesting is how loosely tied Photovine is to the overall Google ecosystem: Photovine was developed by Slide Inc., which was snapped up by Google last year. And there's barely a Google logo to be seen anywhere on Photovine.
While users can share their photos with friends on Facebook and Twitter, there's no Google+ support. Moreover, Photovine's Apple iOS availability comes well before the app hits Google Android devices, which is a mobile space oddity.
Perhaps Google is testing the waters before it brings Photovine in under its own brand.