Begun, the cloud wars have
The cloud storage wars have been underway for the past few years, but in 2014, they’ve heated up to supernova-like levels. Dropbox – the industry veteran with years of experience and millions of happy customers – is facing stiff competition from companies like Microsoft and Apple with billions of dollars to throw around.
Today, Microsoft waved those billions around a little more by offering 30GB of free space to its users. Previously, OneDrive users received 15GB of free space upon signing up.
Microsoft doubled its free storage space and instantly became the most generous cloud storage service in the world by a long shot.
In fact, the free 15GB of storage previously offered by Microsoft was already the best in the industry. Now, users enjoy the 15GB base amount plus an extra 15GB “bonus” for adding their camera roll.
Clearly, Microsoft is the company to beat in terms of cloud storage.
Microsoft aims its campaign at iOS8 users
Apple, for whatever reason, decided to release iOS 8 as a 5GB update package. If you install that update over the air, you’ll require 5.7GB of free storage space in order to proceed.
That sent Apple fans into a frenzy as they frantically figured out which pictures, videos, and songs they could delete or move off their device to prepare for the new OS.
Microsoft is aiming its marketing campaign squarely at these users. In fact, Microsoft even mentioned the iPhone in its press release:
Also available to Windows Phone, Windows, and Android users until end of September 2014
Fortunately, this offer is available to more than just iPhone users. In fact, it’s available to most of the world. If you use a Windows, Windows Phone, or Android device, then you can receive 30 free GB of OneDrive storage space.
You can download the Android SkyDrive app here and the iPhone app here. If you’re a Windows user, you can download it for Windows (and Mac OS X!) computers here and Windows Phone systems here.
No security leaks
OneDrive also has the advantage of never experiencing a major leak or security breach. That gives it a huge advantage over iCloud – which has completely failed countless celebrities by allowing anyone to access their personal documents.
OneDrive, on the other hand, has a clean record. I’m not saying it’s perfect and I’m not saying it’s never going to experience a leak. But right now, it has a clean slate – which is more than you can see for all of OneDrive’s competitors.
Anyways, as someone whose Dropbox storage space just ran out, I’ve never been happier to see an offer like this. Thanks Microsoft!
