Microsoft has updated the pricing and the range of offerings which form its One Drive cloud storage service. Immediately appealing is the boost in the amount of free storage, from 7GB to 15GB. Additionally, along with some pricing plan deductions, the company is significantly raising the storage allowance for Office 365 subscribers.
The following One Drive changes are to go into effect by July:
- Free storage will increase from 7GB to 15GB
- Storage bundled with Office 365 subscriptions will increase to 1TB (previously 20GB)
£5.99/month for Office 365 Personal
£7.99/month for Office 365 Home (up to 5 people)
£59.99/4yr for University - Storage prices will be reduced for users who don't want Office to £1.99 /month for 100GB of storage
- OneDrive users who refer friends will still receive up to 5GB more space (in 500MB increments for each friend who accepts an invitation).#
- OneDrive will give you and additional 3GB for just for using the camera backup feature.
Microsoft will automatically move current subscribers to the price plans detailed above, its blog post also revealed why it has generously upped everyone's storage limit. This should allow most people to store all their personal data in the cloud, as its research suggested that "3 out of 4 people have less than 15 GB of files stored on their PC." The blog explained further, "Factoring in what they may also have stored on other devices, we believe providing 15GB for free right out of the gate - with no hoops to jump through - will make it much easier for people to have their documents, videos, and photos available in one place."
The update could be seen as Microsoft's latest bid to attract customers from rival cloud storage service such as the popular Google and Dropbox offerings. By dropping its cloud storage pricing and offering users more free space, this could mean that users can store all their data in one place, rather than having several cloud storage accounts.
"Storage isn't super interesting. What we build on top of storage is," said Angus Logan, Microsoft's head of product management and marketing for OneDrive, as quoted by CNet. Logan believes that to make storage a more compelling business, companies will have to effectively layer other products and services on top. "We're not trying to just be in the storage game where we break even because storage is the only hammer we have to swing," he added. "But if we can say that we want to deliver productivity across all your devices -- and it also comes with cloud storage -- then it really changes the game from being focused only on storage."
All in all, the war between cloud storage services is definitely good news for customers. Are you already a One Drive user, or will the expanded free storage capacity, lowered extra capacity prices and office bundles make you become one?
