Microsoft appears to be losing the cloud price war after it announced plans to increase the price for Azure cloud.
The move comes shortly after the Google Cloud Platform dropped its prices and will no doubt affect Microsoft’s standing in the cloud market.
Azure has had its prices raised after the company said: "Effective August 1, 2015, local prices for Azure and Azure Marketplace in euros will increase by 13% percent to more closely align with prices in most markets."
The company is also raising the prices significantly in Australia, by 26%, which is said to be due to changes in exchange rates. However, with the price of the Euro fluctuating with on-going concerns regarding Greece, this appears to be a move to restore profits to its cloud operations.
Microsoft, which owns land around North Europe, is unlikely to have been hit by power costs, which have come down recently.
Whether AWS or Google follow suit remains to be seen, but given recent price drops by the companies it appears unlikely.
Upcoming legislation dubbed the "Google Tax" could see tech companies pay a higher level of tax than the normal 20% level and may result in some cloud firms re-addressing their pricing.
