Redmond just issued another challenge in the storage wars, this time with an assist from its search engine business. Microsoft is offering 100 GB of cloud storage on its OneDrive service free for two years in exchange for signing up for a free Bing Rewards account.
The move is only the latest is a series of efforts by technology giants to one up each other’s cloud storage offerings in an effort to lay claim to users’ data. The result has been steadily falling prices for cloud storage as the major storage players have sought to lower prices, increase services, or both.
Rewards for Searching the Net
Microsoft currently charges $ 1.99 per month for 100 GB of storage on OneDrive, indicating its two-year deal is worth about $ 48. Both new and existing Bing Rewards customers are eligible, but they will have to claim their storage by February 28. International users are out of luck, however, as the deal is only being extended to residents in the United States.
This is not the first time that the company has offered a deal on storage for Bing users. Last year, it offered 100 GB of storage for one year for Bing Rewards users who had earned and spent 100 Bing Rewards points. Bing Rewards is a customer loyalty program that rewards people for the number of searches they do on Bing. Users redeem points earned through Web searches for gift cards or other free goodies. Microsoft’s latest offer, however, only requires that users register for the Bing Rewards program.
The deal is only the latest offer from Microsoft enticing users to its OneDrive service. It is also trying to capture more customers using its Office suite of products by offering 1 terabyte of free storage for subscribers of its software-as-a-service Office 365 package. Users can also earn additional storage on OneDrive by backing up photos from their cell phones or referring friends to the service.
Cloud Storage Price War
OneDrive is the new name for Microsoft’s old SkyDrive cloud storage service, competing against the likes of Dropbox, Amazon Web Services, and Google Drive. The various storage providers have been engaged in a price war lately, with several offering similar deals to entice users.
Google, for example, just offered users an additional 2 GB of space in exchange for completing a “Security Check-Up” on their Google Drive accounts between now and February 17. And last week, Dropbox offered an additional gigabyte of storage to its users who agree to download and install Mailbox, the e-mail client it introduced last year.
In August, meanwhile, Dropbox consolidated several of its previous plans into a new professional plan that offers 1 terabyte of storage for $ 9.99 per month, bringing it closer to its competitors’ prices. Google also offers 1 TB for the same price, alongside a 15 GB free plan. Microsoft also offers 15 GB of storage for free on OneDrive.
