back to article 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 …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Of course

    they are allowing for the continuing pluimmetting of the Mighty Dollar.

    1. ThomH

      Other way round, isn't it?

      Surely if they overcharge in the UK, it's to allow for the pound becoming worth less compared to the dollar?

      That said, it's probably more about cost of doing business, taxation regimes, what they think the market will accept, etc.

  2. Durosity
    Go

    14%...

    Hold on.. $20 for an extra 10GB.. that works out at £12.30. Add vat onto that and you're at £14.76.. seems pretty reasonable to me.. technically cheaper than for the yanks.. (if vat registered)

  3. Paul 25
    FAIL

    Not this again...

    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.

  4. Joel 1
    Meh

    Is this a surprise?

    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....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VAT

    Surely the UK prices are inclusive of VAT, so the 14% extra is actually very low and from Apple perspective they're actually offering the same services at a discount here.

  6. Craig Vaughton
    Unhappy

    Brits pay more?

    And this is news?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    And with VAT at 20%....

    ...that means UK prices are actually lower. Right?

  8. Thomas Davie
    Thumb Up

    Given...

    Given that we pay VAT at a higher rate than 14%, that's not a bad deal. Good on apple for making it cheaper in the UK than in the US.

  9. Rosco

    Funny storage amounts

    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)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      RE: Funny storage amounts

      This is for email and stuff. The music storage is separate.

      1. Rosco

        I see, thanks

        Ta

  10. StooMonster
    Facepalm

    Isn't VAT the cause?

    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.

  11. Robert E A Harvey
    Headmaster

    Brits set to pay 14 per cent more than the Yanks

    Not this Brit.

    Unless you pedantically say that 0 *1.14 = 0

    1. ratfox
      Headmaster

      There is nothing pedantical about it

      see title

  12. Stewart Knight
    Thumb Down

    and wait for......

    drop box app on iOS to suddenly infringe apples terms and conditions!

  13. Ray Bellis
    Thumb Down

    No iDisk?

    Damn, that's an annoying loss - I've found it really useful. Oh well, I've stacks of DropBox space which kinda does the same thing.

    1. Wibble
      Unhappy

      And the demise of Gallery

      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.

  14. M7S

    This is a bit of a non-issue.

    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.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surprising

    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.

  16. jubtastic1
    Headmaster

    Has anyone mentioned VAT yet?

    Anyone... Bueller?

    1. jonathanb Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: VAT

      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.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        Re: Re: VAT

        Which is still 1% more than the 14% difference that the Register is whining about.

      2. CD001

        If that's true...

        ----

        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.

        ----

        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.

  17. CmdrX3
    Thumb Down

    or......

    I could just stick with Skydrive and get 25GB for free.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    No iDisk

    As iDisk was the only reason I was paying for mobileMe, I guess I wont be using any of Apples "Foggy" services.

    All your content are belong to Apple.... Go for it boys.

  19. Mark Fenton

    What is the point of storage where...

    ..the seller monitors what you store there and stops you storing music and photos?

  20. Annihilator
    Paris Hilton

    Patriot Act

    Any indication of whether any potential UK customers will be subject to the Patriot Act, or has this (as ever) been glossed like pretty much most cloud offerings to date?

  21. Tony Paulazzo
    Unhappy

    @ Stewart

    >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.

  22. Sarah Davis

    WHY...

    do Apple manage to get the price of everything they sell WRONG ?

    1. louis walsh's toilet
      WTF?

      BECAUSE...

      Apple's net income was 125% higher this quarter, has reserves at $76.4bn, and more cash than the US government apparently. So it seems like their prices are pretty right to me....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Sarah

      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.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    $ -> £ Conversion

    At least it's not $1 to £1 conversion like some stuff from US of A.

  24. Francis Fish
    Happy

    So I pay for an Apple-only service or carry on using Dropbox

    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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Not with you at all...

      "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.

      1. Francis Fish
        Meh

        Meh

        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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