iCloud Pricing: Free Trial, then $25 Annual Subscription Fee?

The LA Times is reporting some new details regarding Apple’s iCloud, announced earlier this week:

Dubbed iCloud, the service initially will be offered for a free period to people who buy music from Apple’s iTunes digital download store, allowing users to upload their music to Apple’s computers where they can then play from a Web browser or Internet-connected Apple device.

The company plans to eventually charge a subscription fee, about $25 a year, for the service. Apple would also sell advertising around its iCloud service.

According to the LA Times, iCloud will be offered for free, then users charged $25 annually on a subscription plan. This model is similar to Apple’s MobileMe service, as it also offered a trial but a more expensive $99/year cost. iCloud will allow users to stream their digital purchases from the cloud via Apple’s servers (we assume the $1 billion North Carolina data centre will play a major role).

Apple Has Sealed the Deal with All Four Major Music Labels

The LA Times also reports Apple has finally managed to secure deals with major record labels Warner, EMI, Sony, and Universal (the last to sign). The terms apparently have Apple sharing 30% of revenue from iCloud’s music offering with the major lablels, 12% with those holding the songwriting rights, and the remaining 58% for Apple to keep. We’ve seen patents for a buffer feature to help cache streaming on local devices, and the longstanding rumours of a streaming music service have all but become a reality. What’s going to happen to MobileMe?

Would you be interested in subscribing to Apple’s iCloud offering for $25/year?

 [via LA Times]

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Drocass
Drocass
14 years ago

Icloud not just to stream your music ota but to also see if it’s all legit and legal purchases followed by suspended accounts and lawsuits 😛

qwerty
qwerty
14 years ago

YAWN!!!!!

Jmstranger
Jmstranger
14 years ago

Why would people lay for this? Is it that difficult to load your music on an iDevice?

Peter
Peter
14 years ago

I concur. Well said.

Dennis
Dennis
14 years ago

Not interested at all… I wouldn’t even bother using it for free.

Dennis
Dennis
14 years ago

Not interested at all… I wouldn’t even bother using it for free.

Jdam
Jdam
14 years ago

stave job say you are going to get it.

Mon
Mon
14 years ago

Lol with limited data usage per month?(cell phone contracts)
HELL NO

Mon
Mon
14 years ago

Lol with limited data usage per month?(cell phone contracts)
HELL NO

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Not really … Steve told us to use MobileMe … Not many have … He also told us to use Ping … Not many of have … I’m not too sure how well iCloud will do … It seems to be a way to not increase iPhone drive capacity but I’m not buying it – pun intended.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Not really … Steve told us to use MobileMe … Not many have … He also told us to use Ping … Not many of have … I’m not too sure how well iCloud will do … It seems to be a way to not increase iPhone drive capacity but I’m not buying it – pun intended.

FatherB
FatherB
14 years ago

I would like to see iCloud combine with Mobile Me and together be offered for $25/year.  That might be a bit more reasonable (free is better).  But, $100 for MM and now another $25 for this new service??  Forget it.

FatherB
FatherB
14 years ago

I would like to see iCloud combine with Mobile Me and together be offered for $25/year.  That might be a bit more reasonable (free is better).  But, $100 for MM and now another $25 for this new service??  Forget it.

Cooper
Cooper
14 years ago

I can think of several ways to do this from home for free, shoutcast and subsonic are a couple of them.

pstephenson
pstephenson
14 years ago

well actually this new iCloud service will replace mobile me and all mobile me services will be included in the new iCloud service

pstephenson
pstephenson
14 years ago

well actually this new iCloud service will replace mobile me and all mobile me services will be included in the new iCloud service

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