Good news - Microsoft has now added storage options to its cloud storage service, SkyDrive. Bad news - Microsoft is priced the storage options, from as low as $10. The company has also introduced SkyDrive apps for Windows and Mac.

SkyDrive users can now pay for more storage, as Microsoft introduces three tiers of pricing, with new SkyDrive users getting 7GB of storage for free. Existing users - those with accounts up to April 22 - get up to 25GB of storage for free by heading to the SkyDrive storage page and selecting "Upgrade my storage."

The three paid tiers are $10 a year for 20GB of extra storage, $25 for 50GB and $50 for 100GB.

Microsoft has also introduced SkyDrive apps for Windows and Mac. Available for Windows Vista, Windows 7, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and OS X, the app syncs files across PCs and Macs along with SkyDrive.com. The download is a local client, accessed from Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder.

Files will sync immediately if edited, or deleted. The cloud storage service also supports streaming and viewing videos from any connected PC connected to the Internet, so videos could be viewed from SkyDrive.com even if an online PC is at home or work.

Microsoft's service competes with Google Drive - rumoured to be integrated into Google Docs, and offering 5GB of free storage -, Apple's iCloud and the long-running Dropbox. The latter offers 2GB of storage for free, with 50GB costing $9.99 a month while $19.99 gets users 100GB. While Microsoft does offer some cheaper pricing tiers, Dropbox offers individual plans up to 1000GB. SkyDrive will also be integrated directly into Windows 8.

The software giant also updated its SkyDrive app for Windows Phone, which debuted in December. While dubbed version 2.0, the changes aren't radical: along with UI tweaks, users can select multiple items to delete at once and manage permissions for folders and files. For those who collaborate online, contacts can be selected from the People Hub for sharing and editing.

The iPhone and iPad apps received updates, introducing Retina display support among other features.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Dave Clark)