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Is the iCloud free storage allowance unfair?

Fairness of the 5GB free iCloud allowance

  • The flat 5GB flat allowance is fairer for all users

    Votes: 99 76.7%

  • A higher allowance is fairer for capacity for larger models

    Votes: 29 22.5%
  • Total voters
    129
M

MacAttacka

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 23, 2012
376
0
Do you think the free iCloud 5GB allowance is fair for all users?

Surely it would be fairer to offer increasing capacity per iPad model. Why should someone who buys a 64GB model get the same free 5GBs as someone who only bought a 16GB model?

Apple should have offered 5GB For the 16GB model, 10GB for the 32GB model and 20GB for the 64GB model.

Edit:
Look at is as a percentage rather than GB.

16GB owners get 31% extra free icloud space
32GB owners get 15% extra free iCloud space
64GB owners get 7.8% extra free iCloud space


That doesn't seem very fair to me :(
 
Last edited:
Maybe in a few years they'll offer you a certain amount of built in memory, and a specified amount of iCloud storage with each device e.g. you could buy a 512GB model, with 256GB built in storage, and 256GB of iCloud storage to add up to 512GB.
 
jessica. said:
Pretty sure you can buy more, no?
Click to expand...

You can but the point is that you pay a big premium for the higher capacity models and inherently those users need more space than someone who buys the barebones 16GB model. It's not if it would cost apple much to make the free allowance fairer.
 
I find it to be opposite. Those with the 16GB were really intending on relying on cloud storage. My opinion is based on people who were discussing which model to buy and many I know said that is why they went for 16GB. That would make me assume they'd want more cloud storage but why would you think you get more if you paid extra for extra physical storage? You did get what you paid for, no?
 
musty345 said:
Maybe in a few years they'll offer you a certain amount of built in memory, and a specified amount of iCloud storage with each device e.g. you could buy a 512GB model, with 256GB built in storage, and 256GB of iCloud storage to add up to 512GB.
Click to expand...

Look at is as a percentage rather than GB.

16GB owener get 31% extra free icloud space
32GB owners get 15% extra free iCloud space
64GB owners get 7.8% extra free iCloud space


That doesn't seem very fair to me :(
 
iCloud is available to more than just iPads, how would the free allocation work for MBPs which cost significantly more?
 
stridemat said:
How is this not a free service?
Click to expand...

Um, because you have to "pay" for an iPad 3 to get this " free" service?

----------
steveza said:
iCloud is available to more than just iPads, how would the free allocation work for MBPs which cost significantly more?
Click to expand...

Simple, you should get an allowance based on the purchase price of the original device. As MBs cost more than the premium iPad, you should get proportionally more free allowance.

This still leaves the option open to purchase more space. With a MB you're more likely to need more space even if it's purely to back up your 128/256gb drives into the cloud. Apple could still make a lot of money upselling this service at more reasonable rates
 
MacAttacka said:
Simple, you should get an allowance based on the purchase price of the original device. As MBs cost more than the premium iPad, you should get proportionally more free allowance.
Click to expand...

But you already got more memory for the higher price.
 
MacAttacka said:
Do you think the free iCloud 5GB allowance is fair for all users?

Surely it would be fairer to offer increasing capacity per iPad model. Why should someone who buys a 64GB model get the same free 5GBs as someone who only bought a 16GB model?

Apple should have offered 5GB For the 16GB model, 10GB for the 32GB model and 20GB for the 64GB model.

Edit:
Look at is as a percentage rather than GB.

16GB owners get 31% extra free icloud space
32GB owners get 15% extra free iCloud space
64GB owners get 7.8% extra free iCloud space


That doesn't seem very fair to me :(
Click to expand...

Sounds like elitist crap to me. Like saying that because I bought a more expensive car I should get better auto insurance or better rates. It's all just another way of saying "Because I have more money than you, I should be treated better than you."
 
gnasher729 said:
But you already got more memory for the higher price.
Click to expand...

Yes but that also means you have more data to back up into the cloud. I use iCloud to back up critical data not store more tunes. I can back up 7% of my device online, others can back up 31%, unless of course I pay extra. If I paid a premium for a premium capacity model surely we should get a premium free allowance. It should be a fixed percentage.
 
Complaining that you don't get enough of a free service is just plain silly.

As to the "it's not free since you have to buy an iDevice" claim, that is equally silly since it is meant as a service for those users.

You get 5GB and you can always re-download any purchases. What else do you want?
 
TheWheelMan said:
Sounds like elitist crap to me. Like saying that because I bought a more expensive car I should get better auto insurance or better rates. It's all just another way of saying "Because I have more money than you, I should be treated better than you."
Click to expand...

I have a better idea.

Let's leave stick to a 7% free allowance on all models.

64GB users get 5GB free
32GB users get 2.3GB free
16GB users get 1.1GB free
 
TheWheelMan said:
Sounds like elitist crap to me. Like saying that because I bought a more expensive car I should get better auto insurance or better rates. It's all just another way of saying "Because I have more money than you, I should be treated better than you."
Click to expand...

Better than sounding communist, as you do. I treat people better if they have more money. They have more to offer and could pay for my services. That said, I got the 16 Gb cuz I'm poor. Though poor, I don't give a crap about iCloud storage. I haven't used more than 4gb of my iPads storage anyways. Poor people can figure it out like I have.

If I spent more, I'd expect better perks. If I bought their top of the line iPad, id expect some extras. If I went to an expensive restaurant, I'd expect more than good food.
 
emaja said:
Complaining that you don't get enough of a free service is just plain silly.

As to the "it's not free since you have to buy an iDevice" claim, that is equally silly since it is meant as a service for those users.

You get 5GB and you can always re-download any purchases. What else do you want?
Click to expand...

It's not "free", it's "inclusive" allowance. It's included in the price of the iPad 3. Higher capacity models should receive a higher inclusive allowance.
 
MacAttacka said:
You can but the point is that you pay a big premium for the higher capacity models and inherently those users need more space than someone who buys the barebones 16GB model. It's not if it would cost apple much to make the free allowance fairer.
Click to expand...

In higher capacity models you are not paying for BIG PREMIUM; you are just paying for extra SSD GB which to this day is still expensive. In reality the bigger capacity phones are cheaper if you want to break it down by GB like you want to do for the lesser sizes.

Also, iCloud is used by many devices, iPods are cheaper than iPhones but are similar in capacity, so your way of thinking is that a person w/ a 16GB iPod Touch get the same size of iCloud like a 16GB iPhone which in reality costs way more, but you say that paying more = more iCloud size, so what is the determinant factor? price by size, capacity & cost of each device and then explain all this to people, it's too convoluted a thinking.

In reality, the best is to set up a standard size for most users and if someone wants more they can pay more which is what apple is doing. I do think that Apple should give 5GB PER Device instead of per ID though.
 
Unfair is a bit extreme isn't it? After all, iCloud isn't required to use iOS device.

That said, it would be nice if Apple throws in free 5GB backup storage per iOS device. While it is possible to signup for separate iCloud account per iOS device, doing so would mean Documents & Data won't synchronize data across multiple devices.

In addition, it would also be nice if extra storage is sold in sizes to match each iOS device. As it stands, iCloud costs $20/year for 15GB, $40/year for 25GB, and $100/year for 55GB. In all likelihood, these packages will fully backup 16GB (14GB usable capacity), 32GB (28GB usable capacity), and 64GB (56GB usable capacity) iOS devices, given how Photo Stream and Applications are excluded from backup. And if you have multiple higher capacity iOS devices, you won't be able to back them up fully since Apple does not sell a package with more than 55GB.
 
Also, I guess I'm missing something about iCloud...all it does for me is back up my settings. I don't need much space to back up my settings. If it were actual usable storage for me, maybe I'd have a more selfish response.
 
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