Microsoft unveiled its replacement name for SkyDrive just a few weeks ago, and the company is now ready to fully rebrand its cloud storage service to OneDrive today. If you’re an existing SkyDrive user then this won’t mean a whole lot. SkyDrive is being automatically upgraded to OneDrive, and existing apps will continue to work with the service. Microsoft will rebrand its Windows 8, Windows Vista, and Mac apps today, alongside its mobile and Xbox versions. Windows 8.1 and Office 2013 won’t be rebranded immediately, but both will continue to work with the new OneDrive service.
The real change is that OneDrive users will be able to earn additional storage in a similar way to Dropbox users. Microsoft is introducing a referral bonus of up to 5GB, which is made up of 500MB for each friend you refer to OneDrive, up to a maximum of 10 friends. OneDrive users will receive the free storage for referrals, and friends who sign up to the service will also get 500MB each. You can also earn 3GB of free storage by enabling the camera backup feature in Windows Phone or the iOS and Android apps. In total, OneDrive will offer up to 8GB of additional cloud storage on top of the 7GB free default allocation. If that’s not enough storage then Microsoft is also introducing monthly payment plans for OneDrive to boost the overall storage.
Microsoft is also updating its OneDrive Android app with the automatic camera uploads feature today, allowing Android users to take advantage of the new 3GB of free storage offer. The new app works largely the same as the iOS version, backing up photos to the OneDrive service, with an option to upload videos too. It also has a slightly redesigned UI to match the other apps across Windows and iOS. The newly designed Android app is available in the Google Play Store, alongside a refreshed onedrive.com site today.
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