Google Drive is now out for PC, MAC, and Android Smartphones

Google Drive has just been announced and launched by Google. Drive has been in rumors for years now and just a month ago the rumors started getting out pretty frequently. Finally, the product is now available for everyone to try on!

Google Drive applications will be live on PC, Mac, and Android at the same time (iOS users are left out in the cold for now). As expected, Google Drive comes with 5 free GB of storage, and will feature close integration with Google Docs. In fact, Google calls Drive the next iteration of Google Docs.

Many of you have noticed by now that your Google Docs storage limit has increased from 1 to 5GB in anticipation of the Drive launch. Additional space can be bought in 25GB for $2.49 / Month, up to a maximum of 16 TB per user on the enterprise side for $799.99 / Month. It’s unclear what the storage options will be for individual users at this time, though current options are found here. Google is guaranteeing an uptime of 99.9%, likely in an attempt to persuade enterprise customers that they can rely on Google’s service.

Store up to 5 GB in Google Drive, 1 GB in Picasa, and 10 GB in Gmail for free and pay for additional storage as your accounts grow. 

Google storage plans

Choose from the following monthly Google storage plans to be used with Google Drive and Picasa. When you purchase one of these plans, your Gmail storage limit will automatically increase to 25 GB. Yearly plans aren't currently available.

Storage	Monthly Rate
25 GB	$2.49
100 GB	$4.99
200 GB	$9.99
400 GB	$19.99
1 TB	$49.99
2 TB	$99.99
4 TB	$199.99
8 TB	$399.99
16 TB	$799.99

"We are entering this era where the personal cloud is going to be more important than the personal computer, so to remain relevant Google needed a service like this."

It marks Google's second foray into online storage. Following Apple's lead, Google last November opened a music store that included free storage for up to 20,000 songs per user.

Google Drive is starting out by undercutting the five-year-old Dropbox, which has emerged as an early leader in online storage by attracting more than 50 million users who collectively sync about 500m files a day.

Dropbox, which is based in San Francisco, offers only 2GB of free storage – less than half of Google Drive – and sells 100GB for $20 a month or $200 annually. Google Drive, by contrast, is charging $5 a month, or $60 annually, for the same amount of storage.

Apple's iCloud service, which is designed for owners of the company's mobile devices and computers, also offers 5GB of free storage, while charging $100 annually for an additional 50GB.

Microsoft's SkyDrive offers 7GB to new users and 25GB to those who had joined before this week. In a move that may have been driven by Google Drive, Microsoft announced on Monday that SkyDrive will sell 100GB of storage for $50 a year.

Dropbox indicated it is counting on its unwavering focus on online storage to fend off Google, which has diversified from Internet search into email, photo sharing, social networking, online video and smartphones.

Drive is designed to work harmoniously with all the products you use – whether Google products or third party service. You can share your photos on Google Drive + and will soon be able to attach documents directly into your emails Drive Gmail. Drive is intended to be an open platform, so we work with many third party developers, allowing you to do things such as sending faxes, edit videos and create models directly from Drive website. To install these applications, visit the Chrome Web Store and follow the events for more useful applications to come.

It is only the beginning of Google Drive, many developments are coming. Stay tuned!