Cloud Pricing War Gets Interesting – Azure Raises Prices
Microsoft Azure recently announced that it would be raising its prices in order combat global currency fluctuations. In the world of geopolitics, Greece and other countries within the Euro region are currently battling severe financial issues that have impacted the value of the Euro. According to Google, 1 Euro is currently equal to $1.10 in USD.
Microsoft says that it will be raising its Azure prices by 13% in regions that are billed in Euros. In addition to the rise in price for the Euro region, Azure in Australia will also see a price hike. Azure pricing in Australia is set to go up 26%. These prices are subject to go up as of August 1st 2015.
It should be noted that some users within these regions will not see a price increase at all. In fact, Microsoft says that those who are under an Azure Enterprise Agreement or have an Azure Enterprise Subscription Agreement in place will have price protection on their services. Microsoft goes on to say that those who have Server and Cloud Enrollments (SCE) will also be protected from the price hike.
At this time, it is unclear whether or not Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform will retaliate with price increases of their own. In the past, CloudWedge has significantly covered IaaS’s race to the bottom in terms of price. It comes as somewhat of a shock to see Microsoft increase it’s Azure pricing within Europe. Typically, as we’ve reported in the past, once one of the “Big Three” in cloud computing announce a price reduction, others tend to follow suit. What about in the case of a price increase?
The conditions are obviously different now. According to chart found on XE.com, the Euro was worth $1.35. The Australian dollar has also taken a nose dive as it was at $.94 a year ago and the AUD is currently worth around $.74.
