Apple's New iCloud Pricing Announced: 20GB for $0.99, 200GB for $3.99 and 1TB for $19.99

[lparsons21]

Each of the services has their plusses and minuses.



iCloud's biggest benefit is for those that use iTunes extensively. The other services are not all that much different from what MS is doing with Win8.1 and OneDrive.



All sorts of syncing going on with that combo these days.



For me, iTunes is something I use but not much with the cloud. And I don't use the iWork apps because I need/want cross platform compatibility.



But both will change over time and that's good for all of us.

 

[alphaod]

So since I pay 50GB right now, so I get 200GB now or will they move me to 500GB which is sort of priced the same? Or will they just pretend I'm grandfathered in and leave me at 50GB?

No news on this is not nice.


As for Dropbox, OneDrive... I pay for all that, but everything is blocked in China.

 

[Apple_Robert]

So since I pay 50GB right now, so I get 200GB now or will they move me to 500GB which is sort of priced the same? Or will they just pretend I'm grandfathered in and leave me at 50GB?

No news on this is not nice.


As for Dropbox, OneDrive... I pay for all that, but everything is blocked in China.

What about using Weiyen from Tencent? They offer 10 TB free.

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OneDrive is a little slower uploading that Dropbox. However, getting 1TB of storage for $56.00 this first year is a good deal, in my opinion. I would like to give the business to Apple. However, their pricing scheme is more expensive.

 

[activate]

Are the new plans in force ?

 

[kappaknight]

I've had Dropbox for 8 years and have 1TB storage (for $11/month CAD), and I'm using only 3.2% of the available space. Its the features and convenience that I'm paying for, not the storage space. People need to stop equating the price to the storage space alone.

Same here. I don't know how long I've had Dropbox, but I've been upgraded to their 1TB plan, which is a welcome addition from their 100MB plan. I use Apple products exclusively at my house, but the people I work with on different projects aren't all Apple based, hence the convenience of Dropbox to allow cross platform shares and syncs - something that I don't think iCloud Drive could/will ever do.

No one is saying that.

5GB is definitely not enough - especially if your backing up your iDevice to iCloud. That 5gb goes very quickly.

The whole point is to provide not enough; so you would upgrade. Just like fishing, you bait with the worm, not the entire meal.

 

[Old Muley]

Color me skeptical, but the whole iTools/.mac/iDisk/MobileMe thing pretty much soured me to anything from Apple as far as cloud storage goes.

 

[jhwalker]

So when exactly can we start upgrading (or downgrading) to these new tiers? I take it when iOS 8 is released?

Yeah, I just got a notice my 20GB plan would renew on 30 September for $40 :/

 

[noob17]

yes, when can i sign up for this? I have my renewal coming up and want o upgrade.

Also, does iCloud drive now hold the phone backups?

Im in UK

 

[lumencreative]

I love how the OP says $19.99 is slightly more than dropbox's $9.99!

 

[69650]

£15/mth for 1TB compared to £8/mth with Dropbox. I'll stick with Dropbox thanks, I've never had any problems with it and it very easy to use.

 

[NATO]

I think I'll stick with Dropbox at $9.99/mth, with a proven track record. Apple's track record for cloud storage isn't fantastic.

 

[shenan1982]

Just a heads-up for students... if you have an EDU email you can get Office 365 for students, which comes with 1GB storage on MSFT's OneDrive for FREEEEE. But the downside is their Mac client is "coming soon..." which they've been saying for years. But if you only use it for occasional web access, the price is right.

 

[phillytim]

Should be 20 GB for free.

Agreed, but even Dropbox is still only 2Gb for free; even more pathetic. But, at least Dropbox gives you chances to earn more space by referrals.

 

[gnasher729]

Is there a way to say 500gb for one account and share it between multiple devices?

The amount is always per AppleID and shared between all devices with the same AppleID. In some cases the data is shared as well; you probably access the same photos on all devices and they are stored only once + cost only once.

 

[Dharma Rascal]

"Slightly"

Ahem. Now in what universe is $19.99 for 1TB of data "slightly more" than $9.99 (from Dropbox)...?!

A blown opportunity, Apple. Feels like tone deaf carelessness (or at worst a lazy sort of greed). They could clean up by using their financial muscle to make it a no brainer to use the new iCloud in iOS 8 for everything. Instead, this, which compares poorly to major competitors. Just think what would happen if they adopted the same pricing strategy as they have with the Mac OS?

 

[whsbuss]

My question is do you get the 5GB free added to whatever subscription you choose?

 

[ggibson913]

still better than dropbox lol.

Umm Dropbox is $9.99 per month for 1 TB, how is that better?

 

[octothorpe8]

No price is worth it, unless I can encrypt all files myself, with my own encryption key before they are sent and without Apple being able to decrypt them.

I think you want SpiderOak. I haven't tried it in a long time, but apparently it has very strong "zero-knowledge" encryption (meaning even they can't see what your files are). If you want to protect files on Dropbox or this new iCloud Drive thing, I think you'll want to keep everything in an encrypted .dmg file. Kind of a PITA, but effective.

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Hey everybody, trying to debate "Dropbox vs. iCloud vs. Google Drive vs...." based on price/GB alone is just as lame as comparing digital cameras solely based on megapixel count without regard to the optics, software, battery, etc.

Please. Dropbox has a pretty radically different set of features and system compatibility from iCloud. iCloud is deeply embedded in iOS and OS X. Dropbox runs on any computer but at a less integrated level than iCloud. Google Drive has robust web-based editing and sharing features. Apples and oranges.

(And yeah, I get that this particular thread is about price/GB, but still)

 

[jclardy]

$19.99/mo vs $9.99/mo = "slightly more"

It's only double, guys

 

[Toltepeceno]

Exactly. That $70-$100 annual subscription for Office 365 that everybody complains about is looking better and better value.
My family of five get Office on their MacBooks and iPhones/iPads, AND 1TB of OneDrive storage EACH for less than $9 per month total.

I agree. I thought I would never go with a subscription service, but our family of 5 have 1tb each, I have an hour a month of skype credit and office 365 (for 3 d3vices each) is a bonus. Here in mexico it's 99.99 pesos a month, that's about 7.69 us a month for that plan. The individual plan is about 5.76 a month. It's more than worth it if you have 5 people, I don't care what the naysayers say. This is the first time I have been able to actually afford office.

 

[Runt888]

$240/year is not slightly more than $120/year.

$2 is slightly more than $1, and also double. Over 100 years, that's $1200 more.

It's all a matter of perspective...

 

[daveathall]

Apple's top tier storage, 1TB, costs just $19.99 per month, slightly more than Dropbox's new $9.99/month price for 1TB storage.

Slightly more? Its more than double the price.

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$2 is slightly more than $1, and also double.

Yes but it's not the difference between 1 and 2 dollars, its the difference between 9.99 and 19.99 (A 10 dollar difference or 1200 over 10 years not a 100 years) which is a huge difference.

 

[JoEw]

I can't believe all the whiners that just want stuff for free. Apple is a business. 5GB for free is very generous and more than enough for large portions of the user base. $12 a YEAR for 4x that amount - can't complain about that either.

Literally no one I know thinks 5GB is enough to back up their photos & apps..

 

[Runt888]

Yes but it's not the difference between 1 and 2 dollars, its the difference between 9.99 and 19.99 (A 10 dollar difference or 1200 over 10 years not a 100 years) which is a huge difference.

Huge is also a matter of perspective. If I make minimum wage then, yes, it would be a big deal. If I make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, then it's not even something I would notice.

 

[daveathall]

Huge is also a matter of perspective. If I make minimum wage then, yes, it would be a big deal. If I make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, then it's not even something I would notice.

You're just playing with words and not worth my time debating with you. Bottom line is twice as much could never be seen as slightly more. I will not engage with you further.