In a fortnight that has seen Apple’s iCloud slandered and deemed culpable for the spate of celebrity image leaks, it’s certainly been a test of the online storage service’s mettle. But with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch having all appeared during the past 48 hours, all seems forgiven – at least, for now – and so with the world completely distracted by these shiny new gadgets, the Cupertino company has taken this opportunity to bring its new pricing structure into effect.
With both iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite releasing imminently, the new storage plans offer more competitive pricing, allowing customers to bulk up the default allowance for differential monthly fees. As standard, iCloud users see 5GB, which is a bit of a pittance compared with what, say, Google Drive users can enjoy without parting with any money, but with 20GB available for just $0.99 /month, it’s still a reasonably-priced service.
If 20GB still isn’t enough, you can opt for a mammoth 200GB for $3.99 per month, which is a pretty decent leap in storage by comparison to price. 500GB will set you back $9.99, although when you do the math, it’s actually a tad higher than two-and-a-half lots of the 200GB package, and if you want a whole terabyte, you’re looking at a $20 monthly outlay.
As aforementioned, you can get more storage for free just about anywhere else. But while many of us use OneDrive, Google Drive and others alongside iCloud, Apple’s service is a very convenient back-up for those in ownership of a fleet of iOS devices.
With iCloud Drive also set to accompany the release of iOS 8 and Yosemite, Apple will finally offer a cloud service as capable as those aforementioned from Microsoft, Google et al. Once iCloud Drive is up and running, users will be able to store all manner of files as a virtual hard drive, ready to be accessed from anywhere, and at any time.
If you want to check out and perhaps even change your storage plan, fire up the Settings on your iOS device, and navigate through iCloud > Storage & Backup > Change Storage Plan.
Apple has assured everyone that it was not accountable for the recent scandal, although has taken steps to improve security in and around iCloud. Whether this, along with the price drop, will be enough, remains to be seen. But if you’re an iCloud user and want to increase the amount of storage available to you, now’s your chance.
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