Google launches Drive cloud service

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 24 (UPI) -- Google officially introduced its Google Drive cloud storage service Tuesday, allowing users to store videos, photos, documents, PDFs and other types of files.

Google's announced 5 gigabytes of free storage is less than the 7 gigabytes of free storage Microsoft added to the SkyDrive cloud service Monday, PC Magazine reported.

Google hopes to entice users to pay a few dollars to receive more storage, offering an upgrade to 25 gigabytes of storage for $2.49 a month, 100 gigabytes for $4.99 monthly, or a full terabyte for $49.95 a month.

In addition to competing with SkyDrive, Google Drive is also up against offerings from Box and Dropbox.

Box offers 5GB of storage for free, while Dropbox's free plans start at 2GB.

Google Drive will be searchable with Google technology, allowing capabilities other cloud services lack, company officials said.

"Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience," Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps for Google, wrote in a blog post. "You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you'll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to e-mails in Gmail."