Apple iCloud pricing revealed Apple has lifted the covers from its UK and US pricing model for the iCloud with a bunch of options for fanbois to suck up additional storage space. And there were no surprises as our friends across the Atlantic are once again getting a better deal. A beta version of the web-based service went live today, giving users 5GB of …
Do we have to do this every time the Reg publishes an article about pricing differences?
It's called VAT.
Google makes $20 = £12.30 at the moment/.
Add VAT onto that at 20% and you get £14.76.
So unless the VAT rate for digital services is different* this is actually a better deal than the yanks are getting.
* Possible, I find the HMRC website basically useless unless you already know where to look for something. However I did find a bit that specifies that VAT on digital services is charged at the rate of the customer's location in the EU, so basing the service in a low VAT location makes no difference. That assumes I understood the tax-man's explanation.
I would guess that the fact that we have VAT of 20% and the US tends to quote prices exclusive of sales tax would explain this difference....
If you were purchasing as a business, the difference would appear to go the other way. Can't blame Mr Jobs for the antics of Mr Osborne....
Why aren't the storage options aligned with the storage options for the devices? Seems to me like a 50GB maximum for the cloud doesn't sit right with the 64GB maximum for iPod touches (or more for classics). I for one would need a little bit more than their maximum for my collection. (Not that I will be using the service, I'm just saying)
I think this implies UK actually pays less, and is actually in danger of being charged more later.
As others point out, if you take VAT into consideration -- which we should, and pay more attention to on everything -- the UK price is actually lower than the US price (which is always quoted tax free).
Therefore the danger is that Apple equalises the UK price with the US, and then we have VAT on top, the price will be significantly higher than 14% price difference.
The Gallery was also quite useful; nicely integrated between the devices (Mac, iPad & iPhone). Will need to find another service to stash the files.
Odd that the things worth paying for -- find my iDevice and calendar synchronisation -- are now free. Seems like they've turned things upside down.
There's always going to be some difference and it's easier for most customers to deal in round numbers rather than a price where the figure would fluctuate daily, otherwise we'd all have to pay in US$ (or somesuch) and then be hit individually by our card providers for the "conversion fee" or the revised rate of conversion when the transaction actually clears. I do agree however that some places milk this and the usual 1£=1$ pricing I see elsewhere is extortionate.
The alternative would be to all be happy buddies and use the same currency. I understand, however, that this is not going too well at the moment for Euroland.
The comments so far are based around VAT quibbles and such. I expected the frothers to be frothing over the fact that one has to _pay_ for such things at all. Aren't people giving away storage for free these days with no-strings-attached-honest-guv conditions?
Me I like to pay for such things. I like to dream that given I've paid for a product I've got some type of (legal*) recourse if it goes south, whereas I always get the feeling with a free product that at the end of the day they'll say - what did you expect?, it was free!
This may be an imaginary comfort, but it's a comfort none the less.
* depending on the country. But in lil' old New Zealand the Consumers Guarantee Act is pretty good in that respect.
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Yes they have mentioned VAT, though strangely everyone has mentioned 20% UK VAT rather than the 15% Luxembourg VAT that is actually charged on electronic purchases from iTunes Sarl.
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If that's true then, as I understand it, Apple are breaking the law - digital services are defined, legally, as services (rather than goods unsurprisingly) and as such VAT has to be applied at the point of receipt, i.e. the country the customer is in NOT the country in which the company is operating. iCloud is definitely a service rather than a good.
When the law was brought in a few years back it meant all the MMOs operating out of the States had to put their prices up for EU customers.
>drop box app on iOS to suddenly infringe apples terms and conditions!<
That'll suck, but if you have Dropbox already on the ipad, they can't delete it, can they?
The icloud sounds all kinds of wonderful (hurr durr), but I use Dropbox because it talks to my PC, android phone and ipad, I'm doubting S Jobs will allow that sort of interspecies carry on.
Go and do a price comparison. You'll see that Apple are actually being competitive. As for the moronic notion that we are paying 14% more in the UK attested by El Reg, see the other post explaining the implication of VAT. With that in mind, we ate actually paying less than those in the US.
The free dropbox works for most people with modest needs and you can up your box size by referring people.
My business pays $135/yr and I think it's a good service. I get 50GB and infinite undo if I need it. Without the infinite undo it's $99. I can get to it on my Linux/Windows and Mac machines, without the lock in.
Most of us don't need webmail any more - most of us already have it from Google/Yahoo or Microsoft, for free. Anyone remember the now defunct Macmail?
It seems very late and very lame to me.
"The free dropbox works for most people with modest needs and you can up your box size by referring people" and that starts at 2GB up to a maximum of 8GB I believe.
"My business pays $135/yr and I think it's a good service. I get 50GB and infinite undo if I need it. Without the infinite undo it's $99. I can get to it on my Linux/Windows and Mac machines, without the lock in."Apple's pricing is analogous to this. I'm not seeing the so called lock-in either.
"Most of us don't need webmail any more - most of us already have it from Google/Yahoo or Microsoft, for free." And so is this!
"Anyone remember the now defunct Macmail?'" Yes, it became .Mac, which in turn became MobileMe, which will in turn become iCloud. It's not hard to grasp.
Sorry for the attitude, but you post basically says that the practically same price Dropbox is cheaper because it's more or less exactly the same, but without email, address book syncing and calendaring. Did you even read the article? I use Dropbox too and it is a fine service, once you've got past the recently amended T's & C's. There are others out there as well.
Nope ... I _implied_ Dropbox more use and doesn't have the lock in. Didn't say anything about it being cheaper, but there's not much in it.
I don't need any more free email. I had a macmail account years ago and it just disappeared, I think the domain was sold to Apple. Been on google mail ever since.
I've already got all of the rest of it with my Android phone and google (it even links to my work email running on MS tech). I don't miss my iPhone, but do use a Macbook for coding, but that's because it works for me. I can also add any service I bloody well like, if it has an app, without Apple's permission.
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