Following Tuedays iPhone/Apple Watch launch event, Apple have quietly released new monthly iCloud storage plans. This is supposedly getting ready for the new ‘iCloud Drive‘ functionality which will be supported in the new iOS 8 & OSX Yosemite operating systems. This is expected to be a real step up for Apple’s cloud services which have faced criticism in the last few years; especially with strong competition from Google Drive, DropBox & Microsoft’s SkyDrive. If so, this is good news for existing Apple users.

Here are the new UK monthly plan prices:

Country Currency 20 GB 200 GB 500 GB 1 TB



United Kingdom GBP £0.79 £2.99 £6.99 £14.99

If you are an existing iCloud storage subscriber, you should have received an email today to your registered email address explaining the changes. Existing users will see their storage increased and annual price dropped dramatically with a partial refund (calculated ‘pro rata’ on the months remaining on the plan). For example if you had 15 GB of total storage at £14.00 a year; you will have been upgraded 20 GB at just £7.49 a year. This works out slightly cheaper than the new monthly plans; which would work out to £9.48 for 20 GB for year.

However, new subscribers will only be able to choose one of these new monthly storage plans. Free storage also remains at 5GB; less than some other services. 5GB may seem like a lot at first but it soon fills up once you have all of your photos and videos on Photo Stream or saved iWork documents.

An advantage of the new monthly model is it’s easy to upgrade or downgrade your storage as needed without being tied to an annual plan; as well as costing less upfront so spreading the cost through the year.

This strategy suggests Apple is expecting a mass adoption of the new cloud services as part of the new operating systems. Will this finally bring Apple cloud services that are truly competitive with the likes of Google and DropBox?