Apple extends free iCloud storage to MobileMe users for extra year

AppleInsider · October 5, 2012 6:16PM

Apple on Friday sent out emails to former MobileMe members, informing them that their previous subscription-based allotment of storage will continue until September 30, 2013.

The company also created a support page describing the reasoning behind the extension, and explaining how much storage each former MobileMe subscriber will be allotted.

From Apple's Support Pages document:

As a thank you to our former MobileMe members who moved to iCloud, we have extended the complimentary storage upgrade they received until September 30, 2013. This extension applies to accounts moved to iCloud between October 12th, 2011 and August 1st, 2012.

The extension will reflect whatever storage tier former MobileMe members subscribed to before switching to iCloud, meaning that for the next year users will be given a complimentary 10GB, 20GB or 50GB of storage on top of the 5GB of free space offered with iCloud. Apple notes that any iCloud upgrades purchased going forward will replace the complimentary storage plan, meaning the cancellation of said upgrade will bump users back down to the standard 5GB of free storage, not the amount reflected in the complimentary extension.

Initially offered to paying MobileMe customers during the transition to iCloud, the initial extension was meant to allow subscribers of the erstwhile service enough time to transfer documents off the cloud, as well as to acclimate those users to the smaller storage limit. Currently, iCloud offers users 5GB of free space to sync device data, music and other files to Apple's servers.

Apple originally scheduled the extended MobileMe storage offer to end on Sept. 30, 2012, though when that day arrived last week, what was thought to be a glitch in the system allotted 25GB of free storage to both iCloud and MobileMe members until the year 2050.

hill60 · October 5, 2012 6:26PM

I liked the 2050 end date better.

flash_beezy · October 5, 2012 6:30PM

Yep, mine was suppose to expire on the 30th, it says 2013 for me now.

desuserign · October 5, 2012 6:37PM

It's really the least they could do, considering how for years they overcharged .Mac and MobileMe users (such as myself, I admit sheepishly.)
I initially subscribed my Mom (mostly for the extra customer support) and myself (so I could know what resources she could access.) Whenever it came time to renew, there always seemed to be some new feature on the horizon. But they mostly over promised and under delivered. I suppose we were the lab rats for the development of iCloud.

Anyway, I appreciate the extra free storage.

nasserae · October 5, 2012 7:06PM

Just make it 5GB PER iOS DEVICE and NOT per Apple ID.

quadra 610 · October 5, 2012 7:06PM

Good.

I think we're due for a little bone thrown our way.

quinney · October 5, 2012 7:09PM

I got this email, but the only reason I needed that much storage was because I was storing a lot of documents on iDisk.

Guess I will have to start taking a lot of photos or something.

ltmp · October 5, 2012 7:33PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quinney

I got this email, but the only reason I needed that much storage was because I was storing a lot of documents on iDisk.

Guess I will have to start taking a lot of photos or something.

I'm with you.

I appreciated getting the email this evening, but I don't really know what I'll do with the space. I do most of my backups locally.

I miss the Mobileme gallery. I wish they'd bring it back

tony1 · October 5, 2012 7:35PM

And this after I emptied everything out to meet the measly 5gb cap by the 30th. I wish they sent me this comp beforehand. Either way, thanks Apple.

mstone · October 5, 2012 7:46PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quinney

I got this email, but the only reason I needed that much storage was because I was storing a lot of documents on iDisk.

Guess I will have to start taking a lot of photos or something.

Good one. I have zero documents stored on iCloud but thanks for the extension of my increased quota. I too used iDisk often. I have Dropbox but I never use it. I built my own cloud service. It doesn't sync but I can use it for any type of file and I can share with anyone even guests who can only see what they have permission to. My app also has drag and drop upload, shows previews of common file types, provides obfuscated web links and auto email notifications of file receipts. iCloud may also do some of those things too, but I wouldn't know because I have never used it since it doesn't allow me to store the most common files types that an engineer and scientific publisher needs which was the sole purpose for my iDisk account in the first place. /rant

rot'napple · October 5, 2012 8:16PM

As a former MobileMe member, I didn't get an e-mail. Guess iCloud is down for me!

quadra 610 · October 5, 2012 8:24PM

Question:

I've been a MobileMe user since around 2006. I'm now an iCloud user of course.

Before iCloud, I got all my mail at my @me or @mac address. Both were the same. Now that I have iCloud, I still get my mail at the @me (or the @mac) address. Do I also have a @iCloud address now? Will I be getting one?

quadra 610 · October 5, 2012 8:25PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

As a former MobileMe member, I didn't get an e-mail. Guess iCloud is down for me!

I got one. Doesn't everyone get one?

charlituna · October 5, 2012 8:29PM

rot'napple wrote: »

As a former MobileMe member, I didn't get an e-mail. Guess iCloud is down for me!

Did you move the account over to iCloud.

I switched up my user name when I went to iCloud so my old main MobileMe went mail service only with iCloud and I didn't get this upgrade. I just assumed because its not my primary account the extension didn't apply. And I'm okay with that

muppetry · October 5, 2012 8:39PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Question:

I've been a MobileMe user since around 2006. I'm now an iCloud user of course.

Before iCloud, I got all my mail at my @me or @mac address. Both were the same. Now that I have iCloud, I still get my mail at the @me (or the @mac) address. Do I also have a @iCloud address now? Will I be getting one?

That's been confusing me. The help information says:

Quote:

If you used an existing Apple ID to set up your iCloud account, you still need to set up an @icloud.com email address to use iCloud Mail.

but I never did set one up, and I use iCloud Mail just fine with my me.com Apple ID and my old me.com email address and aliases.

mstone · October 5, 2012 9:02PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetry

but I never did set one up, and I use iCloud Mail just fine with my me.com Apple ID and my old me.com email address and aliases.

Me either but I discovered when I set up my new iPhone 5 it automatically registered [email protected] which immediately failed when I tried to send an email. I went into the settings and changed it to [email protected] and it worked again.

solipsismx · October 5, 2012 9:07PM

This is a nice surprise though i oddly don't seem to use that much iCloud data despite backing up to iCloud. Only about 2.3GB for 3 iDevices.

sennen · October 5, 2012 9:17PM

I got an email. Nice. Thanks, Apple.

mrstep · October 5, 2012 10:26PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LTMP

I'm with you.

I appreciated getting the email this evening, but I don't really know what I'll do with the space. I do most of my backups locally.

I miss the Mobileme gallery. I wish they'd bring it back

Photo Stream - so simple, everyone can't use it.(TM)

Sadly instead of fixing MobileMe, they took the turn into the left field that is iCloud. Want to share files or be able to manage them? Go get Dropbox. Want to actually share pictures? Do it somewhere else as well (haven't found that somewhere else myself yet.)

Is there actually someone who wants to sync all photos across their devices? Or as the alternative - none? WTH? How about a 'publish' option that you can apply to pictures if you actually want them in the photo stream? Would that actually have been complicated??? For that matter, why didn't they just hook into the MobileMe galleries and let ALL iOS/OSX devices create folders, push pics, manage, etc.? Now that I could have used.

Sorry, I'm loving my iPhone 5, but I still can't believe how much iCloud screwed the pooch. It doesn't work for a family, doesn't work for sharing between friends, oh, and it really doesn't work for me as an individual either.

nasserae · October 5, 2012 10:35PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrstep

Photo Stream - so simple, everyone can't use it.(TM)

Sadly instead of fixing MobileMe, they took the turn into the left field that is iCloud. Want to share files or be able to manage them? Go get Dropbox. Want to actually share pictures? Do it somewhere else as well (haven't found that somewhere else myself yet.)

Is there actually someone who wants to sync all photos across their devices? Or as the alternative - none? WTH? How about a 'publish' option that you can apply to pictures if you actually want them in the photo stream? Would that actually have been complicated??? For that matter, why didn't they just hook into the MobileMe galleries and let ALL iOS/OSX devices create folders, push pics, manage, etc.? Now that I could have used.

Sorry, I'm loving my iPhone 5, but I still can't believe how much iCloud screwed the pooch. It doesn't work for a family, doesn't work for sharing between friends, oh, and it really doesn't work for me as an individual either.

I don't think you understand how Photo Stream and Photo Stream Sharing work. They are completely different services doing completely different things. I use them both and they work great. I use Photo Stream as a backup and to sync my photos to iPhoto. I also have more than six Photo Stream Sharing Albums to share the photos I want with specific people. I only with Apple adds photo stream sharing using a web browser by logging into icloud.com.

mstone · October 5, 2012 10:43PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NasserAE

I also have more than six Photo Stream Sharing Albums to share the photos I want with specific people. I only with Apple adds photo stream sharing using a web browser by logging into icloud.com.

I really don't understand the service at all. When I log into iCloud on the web page the only reference to Photo Stream is under Advanced where it has only one option to Reset Photo Stream which apparently just deletes all your photos on all you devices which doesn't sound like something I would want to do.

Apple extends free iCloud storage to MobileMe users for extra year

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