Former MobileMe members' complimentary iCloud term ends, storage auto-adjusted to 5GB
Apple on Tuesday sent out emails notifying former MobileMe members that their complimentary iCloud storage plans have expired, meaning those who have not upgraded will be automatically bumped down to the free 5GB tier.
As promised in a reminder email from August, Apple has ended the complimentary iCloud grace period extended to former customers of the erstwhile MobileMe cloud storage service.
Since iCloud was first introduced in in 2011, users have been afforded 5GB of free storage for photos, phone data, and other items. As a courtesy to MobileMe subscribers who were on paid subscription plans at the time, Apple offered a free iCloud upgrade equivalent to their then-current data tier. The initial period was set to last one year, but Apple extended the gratis storage allotment to Sept. 30, 2013.
In Tuesday's email, Apple includes the amount of space a member is currently using and offers information on how to upgrade to a higher plan.
Currently, tiered pricing options for add-on storage range from $20 per year for an extra 10GB of space, to $100 per year for an additional 50GB. Former MobileMe subscribers have been able to switch over to the new model for some time via the Settings menu in OS X, iOS 5 and above, and iCloud Control Panel for Windows.
According to a Support Document regarding today's expiry protocols, customers using less than 5GB will be automatically downgraded to the free 5GB option, while those above the cap will see a temporary stoppage of service for iCloud Backup, Documents in the Cloud, and iCloud Mail. If this occurs, there are two ways to restore service: remove data from the cloud or upgrade to a higher plan.
As of this writing, some users have yet to see a change reflected in their storage limits, though that will likely change as Apple's servers update throughout the day.
As promised in a reminder email from August, Apple has ended the complimentary iCloud grace period extended to former customers of the erstwhile MobileMe cloud storage service.
Since iCloud was first introduced in in 2011, users have been afforded 5GB of free storage for photos, phone data, and other items. As a courtesy to MobileMe subscribers who were on paid subscription plans at the time, Apple offered a free iCloud upgrade equivalent to their then-current data tier. The initial period was set to last one year, but Apple extended the gratis storage allotment to Sept. 30, 2013.
In Tuesday's email, Apple includes the amount of space a member is currently using and offers information on how to upgrade to a higher plan.
Currently, tiered pricing options for add-on storage range from $20 per year for an extra 10GB of space, to $100 per year for an additional 50GB. Former MobileMe subscribers have been able to switch over to the new model for some time via the Settings menu in OS X, iOS 5 and above, and iCloud Control Panel for Windows.
According to a Support Document regarding today's expiry protocols, customers using less than 5GB will be automatically downgraded to the free 5GB option, while those above the cap will see a temporary stoppage of service for iCloud Backup, Documents in the Cloud, and iCloud Mail. If this occurs, there are two ways to restore service: remove data from the cloud or upgrade to a higher plan.
As of this writing, some users have yet to see a change reflected in their storage limits, though that will likely change as Apple's servers update throughout the day.
Comments
I used .Mac, MobileMe and now iCloud and love it. However, they seriously need a more clear strategy for cloud storage. At the moment, Dropbox does a far better job for document syncing than iCloud. And the iCloud integration of e.g. iWork is still very clumsy.
And I have a 100 GB Dropbox for $70.
Only paid for Mobile Me once in 2008 (or was it 2009) and now it's finally expired: That's value for money!
Same here!
Just before my subscription was due to expire, I was able to sign up for ASTO training at work which gave me a complimentary free account - so I've had my .mac account for years
I so wish apple made this 5GB per icloud device. Actually, why are we even dealing with 5GB in today's cloud world. This should be 20GB minimum.
Whazzup apple - show us the love and make a storage boost announcement when you pitch the new ipads.
Give everyone 10GB free, or 5GB per device.
I wish they had different pricing. Structure. To go from 20gb to 50gb with no in between is a little drastick. After 20 they should offer 25-30-35 and so on
Yeah, or simply $3 per 5GB and then you choose how much you want.
Photos are often the biggest space consumers. There are other options. I quit backing to iCloud & backed mine up to Google+, you get 15GB for free. Flickr is also an option - up to 1TB. Both can be set so only you can view them. Didn't do Flickr, but Google+ worked automatically, no need to manually copy 1800 photos on my iPhone.
and don't forget videos. Videos seem to be the red-headded step child with Apple. They don't go over photostream so they cannot be automatically backed up to your mac. Apple can't decide if they should be lost forever inside iPhoto where your iphone and apple TV cannot see them but are organized with your photo collections, or stored disjoint from your photos stuck as home movies inside iTunes.
I have not tried itunes wifi sync. This may be a decent option for backup. Not sure what the ramifications are.
I still think it sucks that they decided to "reward" long time users by decreasing our storage. I've had MobileMe since it started and this is what I get. When you are competing with so many other cloud storage solutions it's a bad move.
I love Apple but sometimes they really do things that aggravate me and make no sense.
I wonder if Steve would have agreed on this.
What a weirdly passive note from Apple: there is nothing at all that encourages you to upgrade or why (sure, there is a link that refers generally to iCloud storage and there is info there, but nothing obvious that makes you want to click that link).
Apple truly needs to significantly improve this service which, in its current form, is utterly mediocre. Needs, at a minimum, up to 500GB storage, lower price points to compete with others (e.g., Dropbox, Google), free storage on a per-device basis, and allow any document one wants (not just media and iWork documents) to be stored.
Otherwise, they should shut it down and refocus those resources somewhere else.
I for one think that 2 years of complimentary iCloud was a nice gesture and sufficient for my loyalty.
Do you think they should allows to have more storage than 20gb or are you saying more time?
The only method that seems doable to me is based on the new iOS 7 authentication option where you get it when you input your Apple ID for Find My iPhone which locks the device from being registered by another user. That could, in theory, be used to give and take away the storage, but there are issues that also come along with it. Outside of that I just see more trouble than it's worth which makes me think just giving more space to everyone is the easiest and therefore best method for Apple.
I agree that it's quite low. I don't take many pictures but between my iPad and iPhone it's nearly filled. I can't imagine how others deal with it. Apple should focus on selling products, not services, expect for the finge case, which 5.1GB is not.
I wouldn't be surprised if we they do increase iCloud size at the next iTunes event.
Why do they need an 'event' to increase storage!?
Are you serious? You would have 5GB * num registered devices under said iCloud account. Done. If you still need more, you can buy 10GB at whatever rate a pop. If you deregister a product (which includes selling or returning it), you lose the space bonus. Just like if you cancelled an icloud 10Gb purchase.
There is a limit to the number of iDevices and macs you can register with your account but this way it encourages rather than penalizes folks that have additional devices.
I wouldn't be surprised if we they do increase iCloud size at the next iTunes event.
That's what I thought as well. Yet it would be utterly stupid: Force your users to delete files in the cloud (as I did) just to give them back cloud storage 2 weeks or so later. Really why on Earth would that make sense? If so, they would have extended the 25 GB until this event, or had the event before the 25 GB expired.
Why do they need an 'event' to increase storage!?
No, they don't. But Apple desperately needs an event to make iCloud something great. Not only some contact, calendar, reminder, etc. sync app. And if anyone read the article about dropbox in the current Wired issue, that's exactly what dropbox is doing and extending massively. So Apple needs some bigger strategy for iCloud, or, as someone else said back out here and leave this to dropbox.
Just found the link to this really interesting article: http://www.wired.com/business/2013/09/dropbox-2/