Microsoft has announced a new incentive to get an Office 365 subscription, adding unlimited OneDrive cloud storage for every member. This means unlimited cloud storage, along with a world-class productivity suite, for less than Dropbox Pro.
The aggressive move looks to combine two of Microsoft’s new markets, cloud and services. CEO Satya Nadella said the company is focusing more on software, mobile and cloud first; removing ex-CEO Steve Ballmer’s push into hardware.
OneDrive sales were 120 percent higher than this time last year, showing the interest in Microsoft’s cloud service. A few months ago, Office 365 members were treated to 1TB of free OneDrive storage – now they have an unlimited amount.
This is the first cloud storage provider to offer free cloud storage alongside a service. Most storage providers offer 10TB max storage, to make sure there is no-one overstepping their limits. We wouldn’t be surprised to find out this “unlimited” storage does have some limitations.
Still, for anyone looking to get the Office 365 service, you now have a place to store all your folders and files. Microsoft sees the potential in OneDrive to be the ecosystem for the customer, and once someone is locked into this ecosystem with all of their files, it might be hard for them to leave.
Office 365 starts at $6.99 a month. Microsoft started selling the monthly subscription instead of the one-time payment, in order to drop piracy rates and continue updating the service; while offering a cheaper system for students and professionals on a budget.
We did not get any word on how well Office 365 has performed in the first year, but this new push should bring a few thousands customers to the table.
