So what’s the cheapest, or let’s say, the most usable among the three products for consumers? Can the iOS 8′s iCloud Drive convince Android users that Apple is ready for online storage system? Or Google Drive and Dropbox are still the “better” choices for online file sharing and secured storage system?
One of the WWDC 2014 highlights is the iCloud Drive — the “finally” product which confirms that Apple finally understands the true meaning of cloud storage. From just syncing your photos and other “minor” data across iOS and Mac OS X devices, Apple will soon be finally allowing direct access to cloud storage with the upcoming iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite updates.
Just like Dropbox and Google Drive, Apple’s iCloud Drive lets users send data to cloud and sync it to other devices by dragging and dropping files to the iCloud Drive window. With the advantage of ownership, iCloud Drive will not require separate installation, and users will just login to the system using Apple ID, and start enjoying the spacious Apple cloud file storage.
Apparently, iCloud Drive is not perfect — or let’s just say it is still far from being perfect. Knowing Apple, iCloud Drive is available only on iOS devices, Mac OS X devices and surprise-surprise — Windows. Unsurprisingly, Apple will not support Android, its biggest rival in the mobile space, and the mobile version of Microsoft’s operating system.
For the sake of comparison, I should mention that both Dropbox and Google Drive are available on iOS and Android, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems — except Windows Phone. With more ecosystems supported, customers are more convinced to pay premium fees because they don’t need to worry about moving from one tech company to another. If a user is a die-hard Apple customer who owns a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad — then the iCloud Drive is the perfect product to take because it is more integrated into Apple’s operating systems.
Apple’s iCloud Drive is tightly integrated on Apple’s ecosystem. Apple is giving away a free 5GB starting storage for all iOS and Mac OS X users. If a customer needs more space online, Apple charges $0.99 per month for 20GB additional storage, and $3.99 for 200GB cloud drive. If you’re going to compare Apple’s offering to Google Drive, you’ll see the Apple is still positioned as a premium service. However, Apple’s storage is surprisingly more affordable than Dropbox.
Dropbox is giving away just 2GB of free storage and charges $9.99 per month for 100GB. Google Drive is still the cheapest among the three products with a very generous 15GB free storage, $1.99 per month fee for 100GB storage and access to 1TB storage for just $9.99 monthly fee. Google Drive is also tightly integrated on Android with built-in Google Drive storage, which is ready to use after booting up an Android device.
Safe to say, millions of Apple users will use iCloud Drive, and some of them may even dump Dropbox and Google Drive and stick to Apple’s service exclusively. If Apple can just be more generous on free storage — then the iCloud Drive could be a game changer.
One of the WWDC 2014 highlights is the iCloud Drive — the “finally” product which confirms that Apple finally understands the true meaning of cloud storage. From just syncing your photos and other “minor” data across iOS and Mac OS X devices, Apple will soon be finally allowing direct access to cloud storage with the upcoming iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite updates.
Just like Dropbox and Google Drive, Apple’s iCloud Drive lets users send data to cloud and sync it to other devices by dragging and dropping files to the iCloud Drive window. With the advantage of ownership, iCloud Drive will not require separate installation, and users will just login to the system using Apple ID, and start enjoying the spacious Apple cloud file storage.
Apparently, iCloud Drive is not perfect — or let’s just say it is still far from being perfect. Knowing Apple, iCloud Drive is available only on iOS devices, Mac OS X devices and surprise-surprise — Windows. Unsurprisingly, Apple will not support Android, its biggest rival in the mobile space, and the mobile version of Microsoft’s operating system.
For the sake of comparison, I should mention that both Dropbox and Google Drive are available on iOS and Android, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems — except Windows Phone. With more ecosystems supported, customers are more convinced to pay premium fees because they don’t need to worry about moving from one tech company to another. If a user is a die-hard Apple customer who owns a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad — then the iCloud Drive is the perfect product to take because it is more integrated into Apple’s operating systems.
Apple’s iCloud Drive is tightly integrated on Apple’s ecosystem. Apple is giving away a free 5GB starting storage for all iOS and Mac OS X users. If a customer needs more space online, Apple charges $0.99 per month for 20GB additional storage, and $3.99 for 200GB cloud drive. If you’re going to compare Apple’s offering to Google Drive, you’ll see the Apple is still positioned as a premium service. However, Apple’s storage is surprisingly more affordable than Dropbox.
Dropbox is giving away just 2GB of free storage and charges $9.99 per month for 100GB. Google Drive is still the cheapest among the three products with a very generous 15GB free storage, $1.99 per month fee for 100GB storage and access to 1TB storage for just $9.99 monthly fee. Google Drive is also tightly integrated on Android with built-in Google Drive storage, which is ready to use after booting up an Android device.
Safe to say, millions of Apple users will use iCloud Drive, and some of them may even dump Dropbox and Google Drive and stick to Apple’s service exclusively. If Apple can just be more generous on free storage — then the iCloud Drive could be a game changer.
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