iCloud Additional Storage Pricing: $20-$100 per Year

[grantsdale]

so all the data on your iPhone is completely different from all the data on your iPad? i have 4 iOS devices. i would say that 90% of all the data on each device is redundant. get it?

yes, iCloud can be used as a backup service, but that's not the primary feature. if you use any other backup service, you realize you have to pay for it right? mozy and carbonate are about $60 per year. and this is for you desktop or laptop, not your mobile device. even dropbox charges $10 per month for if you use more than 2GB.

It doesn't matter if the data is the same or different if you're using it to do backups.

The point is - I can register all these devices on new accounts and get 5GB each. If I register them on the same account, I should get that same 5GB each. Why is there a penalty if you're purchasing multiple devices? I would think you would get rewarded. You actually get less than a new customer.

 

[jayducharme]

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iCloud is not a backup service

I think that's a big part of the confusion. The way Apple is promoting it, iCloud sounds like a place to store everything on your iDevices -- just like a backup service. But these days, 5 gb is a laughably small amount, considering that even the most basic mobile devices usually start with 8 gb. My desktop holds 3 tb of data. And yes, I know Apple doesn't count purchased media -- but what about media I create myself? I'd love to be able to store that as well. But even the 50 gb plan wouldn't be nearly enough for that.

I think this iCloud is taking its first baby steps to that always-connected-and-always-synced world that Steve Jobs dreams about. But either there will have to be much better data compression going forward or much more storage available to realize that dream.

 

[ConErck]

Unfortunatly, that is far from competitive pricing.

Apple 2$ / GB / year
Amazon $1 / GB / year
Google 0.25$ / GB / year

I am disappoint.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Those promotions might (and I think they will) come in the future. But if every iDevice added 5GB to an iCloud account... Just imagine how much space that is. Apple wouldn't be able to handle that much data. 5GB's is fine for me, but on the other hand, I only have one MacBook Pro and one iPhone 4.

I guess what they can do is give a discount on more space per iDevice you own. So if you own 5 iDevices you would be able to get 50GB's of space cheaper than a person with 1 iDevice.

it's built into the iCloud overall structure. If you register 1 device with a different email address you will get the 5gb. If you use the same 1 account it does not benefit you at all.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Unfortunatly, that is far from competitive pricing.

Apple 2$ / GB / year
Amazon $1 / GB / year
Google 0.25$ / GB / year

I am disappoint.

this is apple.....what do you do when you look at the price of hardware? of course they are going to cost more!

 

[itsalexaye]

but the thing that Apple does that Amazon and Google do not, is that your music and apps are in the cloud but do not count against your storage

 

[Mr Kram]

It doesn't matter if the data is the same or different if you're using it to do backups.

The point is - I can register all these devices on new accounts and get 5GB each. If I register them on the same account, I should get that same 5GB each. Why is there a penalty if you're purchasing multiple devices? I would think you would get rewarded. You actually get less than a new customer.

uh, it does matter. you back up 5GB of data and it's available on all devices. unless you have different data on each device, you don't need separate backups.

I think that's a big part of the confusion. The way Apple is promoting it, iCloud sounds like a place to store everything on your iDevices -- just like a backup service. But these days, 5 gb is a laughably small amount, considering that even the most basic mobile devices usually start with 8 gb. My desktop holds 3 tb of data. And yes, I know Apple doesn't count purchased media -- but what about media I create myself? I'd love to be able to store that as well. But even the 50 gb plan wouldn't be nearly enough for that.

I think this iCloud is taking its first baby steps to that always-connected-and-always-synced world that Steve Jobs dreams about. But either there will have to be much better data compression going forward or much more storage available to realize that dream.

who cares how they promote it? you are correct that apple is not a leader in cloud storage (yet), but they are slowly making strides. let's not forget that mobile me was not a free service a year ago. this is what baffles me about the complainers mostly.

Unfortunatly, that is far from competitive pricing.

Apple 2$ / GB / year
Amazon $1 / GB / year
Google 0.25$ / GB / year

I am disappoint.

let's compare apples to apples. do google and amazon sync all your data and push changes back down to all your devices? is there a media player that let's you stream audio or video from the cloud? i don't the answers, just asking.

 

[grantsdale]

uh, it does matter. you back up 5GB of data and it's available on all devices. unless you have different data on each device, you don't need separate backups.

You're confusing iCloud sync with actual backup to iCloud. They are different. I can sync without a problem, and yes, that keeps my settings and data the same between the devices. Actually using iCloud backup does it differently, as it backs up the data pretty much the same way it would if you were doing a backup to your Mac/PC. I don't want to backup my iPhone restore to my iPad. For one, it doesn't have the same information (texts, old photos, etc) Two, all the incompatible iPad apps are worthless on my iPhone, and there are tons of apps on my phone that aren't on my iPad because they don't really work well on the iPad.

TLDR: Sync != Backup

 

[deconstruct60]

But for people like myself who have been buying music from when CDs (and LPs for that matter) are the the bulk of our collection

Apple's iTunes Match should reclassify your collection as "from Apple" if those are identifiable CDs transfers. Not sure if that is permanent or you need to continue to pay for the escalated classification permanently for the $25/yr service. Even is locked into the $25/yr then

$40 (20GB / yr) + $25 ( Match escalation ) = $65 / yr

for 2TB of stuff that isn't bad. The 20GB for whatever doesn't match.
However, if don't get matches that is bad. Also not sure keeping the encodings equivalent in ( iTunes plus ) format.

 

[autrefois]

Will this be a functional replacement for iDisk? Will we be able to upload and download arbitrary files?

Based on the brief walk-through video in this thread, it doesn't look like there will be any way to access documents other than iWork ones, at least through the web interface. In the video they click on "iWork" and it specifically breaks it down into Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.

I don't have access to the beta, but based on the information out there and lack of mention of other file storage, it's not looking likely that there will be iDisk-esque storage unless you were somehow allowed to include .doc, .xls, .pdf or other document types in among iWork saved files, or there's a way to "trick" iCloud by finding the path where these documents are stored and then placing other files in there to sync (which if possible I'm sure wouldn't be supported and would be at your own risk).

I don't understand why they can't offer iDisk as an option to power users. They're offering the extra space for extra money; why not give people who are willing to pay for it a way to use it for "other" document storage or webpages as had been the case with MobileMe?

 

[piyusharyan]

some tips..

I have an iPhone 4 32GB on iOS 5 beta 4. I can tell you all for a fact that 5GB isn't enough to back up all my data. Every morning when I wake up it says "Not enough storage. This iPhone cannot be backed up because there is not enough iCloud storage available (Close) (Settings)" so iCloud Free is essentially worthless if you actually want to backup your stuff. Forget the fact that I have an iPad 2 that can't use any of my iCloud at all because my iPhone overflows the free amount. You should at the very least get 5GB per device that you own. Making an iCloud account for each iOS device I own seems very un-Apple like as nothing would be in sync, defeating the purpose. Only separate iCloud account that makes sense is my wife's. Can we link iCloud accounts so we can share my larger paid storage?

I predict this iCloud thing is going to be confusing and upset a lot of people. Especially since everyone's iTunes account will be separate, unless they didn't ever buy a thing until they got a .Mac or MM account which is automatically an Apple ID and will be converted into iCloud. That or you'd have to rebuy everything you've ever purchased with Apple to keep them all on a single account. Again, very un-Apple like. Using AppShopper to get everything on sale, I probably have the equivalent of over $1000 spent on the App Store. I'm never going to rebuy that stuff! Not to mention music or shows.

If only I had a single, simple unified account to use on all my Apple devices. My iPhone 4 was $300, our iPad 2 was $600, my wife's iPod Touch was $230, and my Macbook Pro was $2500. Apple, make it happen! They should just work together with one account. I've paid enough! It should be easy for us.

There are lot of applications that you might not want to backup.. Like I have this game fragger.. it has 246mb of data (no clue why).. but I don't need its backup.. nor do I need backup of all my book apps like Al Gore's Our Choice.. it takes some 1-1.5GB space.. After turning off backup of unnecessary apps.. i can easily backup my 32gb iPhone 4 and 64GB iPad.. try it..

And u don't have to buy everything again.. my Apple ID (i have IDs of two countries), MobileMe id (it hasnt been migrated yet) and iCloud id are all different.. and i didnt have to buy anything again.. it still works..

 

[milo]

Remember this excludes your 1000 most recent photos and excludes any iTunes purchased music, TV shows (and eventually movies when agreed with studios)

Plus if you pay the $25 for iTunes match, it's another twenty five thousand matched songs that don't count against the space. That could be over 100 gigs easy.

 

[A N G E L]

LOL.

They obviously don't know me.

Check this out:

http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/photo-stream.html

That, in addition to:

Your purchased music, apps, and books, as well as your Photo Stream, don’t count against your free storage. Since your mail, documents, Camera Roll, account information, settings, and other app data don’t use as much space, you’ll find that 5GB goes a long way.

It's like having 1,000 photos of free, unused space in the cloud. Although, it only lasts for 30 days before they get deleted.

I take it as Apple's way of saying, "Here, have 1,000 free photos of storage on us for a while, but just make sure you save everything to your laptop, otherwise it gets deleted, or if you save it to your phone, it'll take up part of your free 5gb."

Essentially: If ya don't want to have to pay for extra for more GBs, you're gonna have to compromise on keeping all those pictures and videos on your iPhone, and rather, keep them stored on your Mac/PC and switch them out when you want to via manual sync.

It's still pretty sweet that they're letting us do that. It's a good head's up.

 

[ConErck]

let's compare apples to apples. do google and amazon sync all your data and push changes back down to all your devices? is there a media player that let's you stream audio or video from the cloud? i don't the answers, just asking.

For Mail and Contacts: Yes. Google offers Exchange Push service for Gmail.
For Photos: No-ish. At least not in a "It just works" matter. Android phones can be setup to instantly upload all your photos to Picasa/Google+ in the background. But there is no Push sync to other devices. Although the open Picasa API certainly allows for clients on all devices to sync with the webfolder.
For Docs: No-ish. Although there is an open API as well, that would allow syncing.
Music: Amazon has a cloud player app. Google Music is in closed Beta right now, but will allow that as well.


I'm not saying iCloud is inferior to Google or Amazon's offer in every way. I'm sure the usability and "just works / magic" will be great for iCloud. But the pricing (and probably interoperability/openess) is not competitive. It all depends on what you are looking for in a cloud storage service. I know that I'll want to store more than just my photos and music in the cloud, and therefore additional storage is an important factor for me.

Plus: Steve Jobs did the pricing comparison himself for the WWDC Keynote

 

[KiwiGoneDutch]

I wonder if you could change the backup service to a private-server, then you could backup as much as you want.

 

[Fylet.com]

You can have (i)Cloud alternative

I wonder if you could change the backup service to a private-server, then you could backup as much as you want.

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