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Why does Apple only give you a lousy 5GB free?
- Thread starter MiamiC70
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Law of Averages and Overselling.
The average storage use by gmail accounts across every account is probably close to 0.5%, or something like 40MB. So they can oversell because they know users won't ever fill it up. They could make it 100GB and it wouldn't make a difference. Ever wonder why Google hasn't made their accounts easily accessible for general storage? That's right, because then the average storage used would skyrocket from 40MB to say 1GB per account.
That's basically the story behind iCloud. Apple knows the average storage used is easily > 1GB, so they must keep it low so that users don't cram their cloud full of data and Apple will run out of room.
The average storage use by gmail accounts across every account is probably close to 0.5%, or something like 40MB. So they can oversell because they know users won't ever fill it up. They could make it 100GB and it wouldn't make a difference. Ever wonder why Google hasn't made their accounts easily accessible for general storage? That's right, because then the average storage used would skyrocket from 40MB to say 1GB per account.
That's basically the story behind iCloud. Apple knows the average storage used is easily > 1GB, so they must keep it low so that users don't cram their cloud full of data and Apple will run out of room.
but wouldn't it be fairer to give 5GB per Apple device?
If I buy an iPhone I get 5 GB iCloud. If I then buy an iPad I am entitled to 5GB iCloud if I use a new itunes/iCloud account, but if I want to keep the same account then I don't get anything.
Why not add the 5GB from the iPad to the iPhone iCloud account.
If I buy an iPhone I get 5 GB iCloud. If I then buy an iPad I am entitled to 5GB iCloud if I use a new itunes/iCloud account, but if I want to keep the same account then I don't get anything.
Why not add the 5GB from the iPad to the iPhone iCloud account.
Yes....it would. Right now the whole thing isn't device specific, so they would have to attach some sort of hardware identifier on your account in order to register the extra space.
Would be a lot of logistics to think through there.
Like if the person sold a device to someone else.
Also, part of what is paying for iCloud is the continued purchase of Apple hardware.
With Apple you are the customer and therefore buy stuff
With Google, you are the product. You read ads that various companies pay Google for you to read. Google collects statistics about your web usage that they sell. Look at how many web sites (including this one) include "http://www.google-analytics.com/ga.js" to gather web usage info. Have you ever looked at how many tracking cookies Google sets when you log in to Gmail?
Google in essence is paying for your productization by giving you Gmail and other services so they can collect the data they sell and collect money for presenting you with ads.
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That is what I was saying I have an iPhone, iPad3 and a MacBook Air yet I still only get 5GB? Why not 5GB per device or reward me as a loyal customer with 10GB? I mean come on if I opened 3 seperate accounts then I could have 5GB per account so why not throw your customers a bone.
They do have 600+ Billion in the bank is it realy going to kill them?
They do have 600+ Billion in the bank is it realy going to kill them?
They do not. The entire company is currently valued at that but that is not cash in the bank...not even close.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Yeah they have like $1B at the moment, and will be using over half of that on dividends and buy backs.
Why does Apple only give you a lousy 5GB free?
I mean come on I am so tired of he nickel and dime BS my Gmail account has almost twice that and it FREE!
My iPhone and iPad3 along consume about 4GB just to back up
Yes that's a lot just for your backups, but aside from that I bet you are hardly using any iCloud space. I know I'm not. It will take a while for me to use up my 5GB.
Although, I agree I wish I could get a little bit more space, like 5 GB per device as was proposed above. I don't even think it would be too logistically difficult to do. However many devices are currently "linked" to iCloud would that times 5GB. Whenever a device was wiped and sold, that connection would instantly go away, thus so would the extra storage. Although maybe Apple could give you a 30 day window to prepare for the reduction in storage.
Umm lets see:
Pay Comcast for internet service = $60 month
Pay AT&T for SAME internet = $30 month
Oh, wait want to teather your hone pay AT&T another $20.00 am month want to access the internet on your iPad oh another $30.00 to AT&T
Oh no you want to use text messaging tag another $20.00 a month for data.
Music match $25.00 year iCloud oh wait 5GB not enough pay more.
Keep buying into big business BS...
I can well afford it but I am tired of paying for it and being nickel and dimed.
Like other poster said would not hurt apple one bit to give thier multiple device customers mode space. And YES I am using it soley for backup and am up to 4GB used.
Pay Comcast for internet service = $60 month
Pay AT&T for SAME internet = $30 month
Oh, wait want to teather your hone pay AT&T another $20.00 am month want to access the internet on your iPad oh another $30.00 to AT&T
Oh no you want to use text messaging tag another $20.00 a month for data.
Music match $25.00 year iCloud oh wait 5GB not enough pay more.
Keep buying into big business BS...
I can well afford it but I am tired of paying for it and being nickel and dimed.
Like other poster said would not hurt apple one bit to give thier multiple device customers mode space. And YES I am using it soley for backup and am up to 4GB used.
For $20 a year you can get an additional 10GB.... pennies a day. This is more than reasonable.
Stop buying so many big macs and doritos tacos and pay up for the extra storage...
Stop buying so many big macs and doritos tacos and pay up for the extra storage...
You're upset that AT&T and Comcast are charging you for Internet access, the record labels are charging you to stream your music from online (without you having to pay to upload/host every song you own), so you've decided to draw the "nickel and dime" line with Apple, because they're bastards for giving you 5GB of free storage space in their cloud, and have the nerve to charge for additional space. Oye.
Hows about you save your self some anguish for this horrible injustice and set your iOS devices to backup to your computer at home...
Well in your account it lists the devices authorized to your Apple ID, and it tracks them by serial number. All they would need to do is automatically give you 5GB per device on the account and make it so that the 5GB is only given once, even if the device is authorized on multiple accounts. In other words, it is an easy implementation.
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But if you sell your device you will most likely remove it from being authorized on your account, so they could just take off the 5gb when you remove it.
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Well if you open an iCloud account for every device, it would cost them the exact same price as it currently does. Rather than have 3 5gb accounts, you have one 15gb account. The difference is the second option is more convenient for their users.
They already know your devices, check find my iphone and they are listed separately.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
except for the fact that no one uses a different iCloud account for each device... What would be the point in syncing to yourself?
I wouldn't say that is easy. What happens when the device switches to a different user? Say you have 3 devices, so 15GB of space, and you are using 12GB. What happens when you hand off your old iPad you don't use anymore to a friend or you sell it? Do they take back the 5GB (seems logical if you are linking it to a device)? Do they not allow the 2nd owner to have access to the space?
A lot less confusion (and less headaches on Apple's end to in having to keep track of all of that) if they just stick to how it is now....perhaps opening up extra space down the road.
Google is selling your information so you're indirectly paying for it by using their service. 50,000 foot level - please no black helicopter or tin foil hat debates.
From Wikipedia, Google specializes in "specialized in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies". That's a far cry from what Apple does and Apple is just dipping their toe into cloud features.
It sounds like you are backing up too much data. My 16 GB iPhone is always almost full and I'm backing up 327.7 MB. I don't back up photos because they're backed up on my PC. I deleted the AP News app because it had cached 220 MB of ???.
In regard to iCloud storage you can manage it, complain about it, buy more of it, or stop using it.
When you give the device away you will typically de-authorize it on your accounts. So now that the device is on no accounts and its 5gbs have been removed, the system can give the 5gb to the first account the device is authorized to. Apple already has a system in place to only let your device be authorized on 5 accounts. They only need to add a script to that system that gives 5gb to one of those accounts. They can make it simple and just give it to the first account linked to the device.
The company that is trying to do away with the file system in the name of making things less confusing for novice users is going to setup a system that requires users to de-authorize devices before getting rid of them?
I highly doubt it.
You have got to be kidding.
Don't you know how cash strapped Apple is ?
Do you fail to realize that they are struggling to sell their products?
They need income so badly it's amazing they're still in business.
I'm sure if they could somehow become successful, they'd be quite generous.
Or not...
What a great, snarky example that underscores the sense of entitlement in this world perfectly.
Apple is a business, not a charity. That said, this time last year having access to an @me.com account was going to cost you $99/year. Now you get a account for free (provided you buy one of their products). Hooray, right?
Apparently not. Instead of being grateful that the service is free people spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on what isn't included in that free price tag. Nevermind the fact that to get the same 20GB of storage that used to be offered with MobileMe it now only costs you $40/year instead of $100. That's just not good enough for you. You want Apple to give away the farm, just because they've been successful over the past half decade.
But I suppose a sense of entitlement is just par for the course these days. We get something and all we want to know is why we didn't get more.