Microsoft Officially Rebrands SkyDrive, Offers OneDrive As The One Place For Your Files
Late last month, Microsoft announced that it would be changing the name of its popular SkyDrive cloud storage service so as not to breach the “Sky” trademark of British TV broadcaster BSkyB. Now, the company has officially put the rebranding into effect.
As of today, SkyDrive is no more. In its stead is OneDrive.
Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President of Windows Services at Microsoft, notes in a new post on the official OneDrive blog:
If you can't see the video embedded above, please click here.Today we are thrilled to announce the global availability of OneDrive. For our existing SkyDrive customers, you are all set; your files are ready in the new OneDrive experience. All you have to do is head over to www.OneDrive.com and log in. For those of you hearing about the service for the first time, OneDrive gives you one place for all of your files, including photos, videos, and documents, and it’s available across the devices you use every day.
A few hours ago, Microsoft issued an update to its official SkyDrive app for iOS. Apparently, the update brings nothing more than “bug fixes and performance improvements.” As it turns out, though, the update also brings about the rebranding. That is to say, the app now also officially goes by the name of OneDrive.
OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is available in the App Store for free. It's compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 6.0 or later.
Coinciding with the name change, Microsoft has introduced several new features across the OneDrive portfolio, including automatic camera backup on Android (available on iOS since last November) and easier video viewing and sharing.
Microsoft has also introduced new ways of earning more storage in addition to the 7GB that initially comes with a OneDrive account. “Customers who refer friends can now receive up to 5 GB (in 500 MB increments) for each friend who accepts an invitation to OneDrive,” Jones notes, “and we’ll even give you 3 GB just for using the camera backup feature, since we want to help make sure you never lose another photo.”
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