Apple to Offer Free Tier of iCloud Without Music Streaming? 'Aggressive' Pricing for Mac OS X Lion? [Updated: Education Pricing for iCloud?]

icloud mobileme idisk
AppleInsider reports that it has received information from a source claiming that Apple will offer at least a basic tier of iCloud services free of charge to Mac OS X Lion users, although it remains unclear exactly what would be included in that package.

People familiar with Apple's plans indicated to AppleInsider that at least one of those secrets is expected to be that at least some of the services included in iCloud will be offered for free to Mac users who make the upgrade to Lion. iCloud is expected to replace the company's existing MobileMe service, which offers e-mail and remote file storage, along with syncing of bookmarks, contacts and calendar events, at a price tag of $99 per year.

That price tag may remain for users who do not make the upgrade to Lion, or for Windows users. But it is expected that the cloud services will become free to Mac users who run the latest version of Mac OS X.

One thing the free tier is not expected to offer, however, is music streaming. Apple has been negotiating licensing deals with major music labels and publishers to support that functionality, and those deals come at significant cost that Apple will almost certainly be passing along to users, although the company may offer a free introductory trial period in order to help bring users on board.

A separate, "unproven" source has also indicated that Apple may be planning to offer a relatively low price point for Mac OS X Lion, enticing users to upgrade to the new operating system. That low price could be specifically tied to Mac App Store distribution, offering users an incentive to embrace the company's new iOS-like distribution platform for Mac OS X.

Apple has historically offered new Mac OS X versions priced at $129 for single installations, although Mac OS X Snow Leopard has been priced at only $29 since its 2009 debut due to its relative focus on under-the-hood changes that may have led some users looking for more substantial visual changes to refrain from upgrading at a higher price point. It is unclear whether an "aggressive" price point for Mac OS X Lion as claimed by the source would match the $29 price point of Mac OS X Snow Leopard or if it would simply be below the usual $129 price point for major operating system releases.

Update: 9 to 5 Mac also reports that Apple may be planning to offer special educational pricing for iCloud services.

A source with some success in the past has passed along that iCloud will have educational-tiered pricing, perhaps being free for students and teachers to a certain level or with the purchase of Apple products.

Apple has been said to be announcing its annual back-to-school promotion offering free and discounted iPods (and perhaps discounted iPads) to educational customers purchasing new Macs at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week. The association of WWDC with the back-to-school promotion would be unusual, but would make more sense if it was somehow tied into educational customer pricing for iCloud.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 Modem for 5G

Friday September 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone Air is equipped with Apple's custom C1X modem for cellular connectivity, all of the iPhone 17 models are outfitted with Qualcomm modems still. A teardown video shared on Chinese platform Bilibili today (via Reddit) appears to confirm the iPhone 17 Pro Max is equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 modem in particular. The same modem is likely used in the iPhone 17 and iPhone ...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...

Top Rated Comments

Small White Car Avatar
187 months ago
I believe it.

'Free cloud stuff' is where Google has Apple totally licked. I don't think Apple has any choice if they want to attack Android and Chromebooks head-on.

Yeah, charge for the music stuff, but contacts, calendars, Pages documents...all that stuff is eventually gonna have to be free for Macs and iOS devices if Apple wants to keep selling devices.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Žalgiris Avatar
187 months ago
'Free' and 'Agressive Pricing' are the words i like to hear.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
longofest Avatar
187 months ago
And Im not changing my email to @icloud.com

agree... I actually still use @mac.com
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abhimat.gautam Avatar
187 months ago
The ultimate iOSification of Lion would be to make it a free update.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GadgetGav Avatar
187 months ago
This having to pay to update OSes rankles with me anyway (I don't care what anyone else thinks), but now as a long-time MobileMe user (MM being integrated in part of my life) they're going to twist my arm even further by giving me an ultimatum: change to Lion or keep paying up for MobileMe? Aren't the free alternatives ever increasing?

Really? You rankle at having to pay for major OS updates, even when the last one cost $29...? Do you know any software programmers? Have you any idea of the amount of work that goes into a major OS release?
If you don't want to pay, find a free distribution of Unix. Just don't expect Apple (or Microsoft) to give away the major releases of their OSes for free.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Thataboy Avatar
187 months ago
I find it hard to believe Apple will rebrand iTools, I mean .mac, I mean MobileMe again. Hmm maybe I shouldn't find it so hard to believe.

I think it is more likely that MobileMe will become a component of iCloud (or vice versa). MobileMe on the web now already seems a bit like a collection of apps.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)