Microsoft has announced today that its cloud storage service SkyDrive will soon become OneDrive. This announcement comes as a result of Microsoft losing a court battle with UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB over its use of the name ‘SkyDrive’.
SkyDrive becomes OneDrive
Back in June, a court found that the name ‘SkyDrive’ infringed on BSkyB’s trademarked ‘Sky’ name. Microsoft initially said that it would appeal the decision, but then later decided not to. In return, Microsoft was given some time to change its branding to something else. And thus, Microsoft has finally come up with a new name ‘OneDrive’ but the logo has remained the same.
Ryan Gavin, General Manager for Consumer Apps & Services at Microsoft explains the reason behind this new name in a blog post.
We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life.
What’s more; it does goes nicely with ‘Xbox One’ branding. It might be just a coincidence, but if so, it’s a good one. Microsoft too admits that “changing the name of a product as loved as SkyDrive wasn’t easy.”
Signup to get notified about OneDrive’s launch
Right now you can head over to OneDrive.com and you’ll see that it says ‘Coming soon.’ There’s an email signup option though, if you want to get notified when OneDrive is launched. Simply enter your email address and hit the ‘Submit email’ button.
This new name will be coming into effect shortly, but exactly when is not clear. SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro will become OneDrive and OneDrive for Business respectively.
The earlier SkyDrive blog too now redirects to the new OneDrive blog, which tells us that the rebranding process has started. Check out the promotional video of OneDrive which explains some features of this cloud storage service.
