Azure, Office 365 and more Microsoft cloud price increases on deck for August 1

Microsoft will be upping prices for its "enterprise cloud products" for certain customers in much of Europe, Australia and Canada. as of August 1.

Aidan Finn, a Hyper-V Most Valuable Professional and technical sales lead for a distributor in Dublin, posted to his blog on June 30 excerpts from Microsoft e-mails he received noting the coming Azure price increases. Azure prices will increase 11 percent in the European Union and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member countries and 26 percent in Australia, Finn said.

Microsoft is attributing the increases, in part, to currency fluctuations, Finn noted.

.A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the coming price increases and the reported percentages. The spokesperson provided me with the following statement:

"Microsoft periodically assesses our pricing to ensure there is reasonable alignment with the market. In light of the rapid evolution of the market for cloud services and evolving local dynamics, we can confirm that as of August 1 2015, we will adjust prices for most enterprise cloud products within the EU/EFTA region. The UK is unaffected by these adjustments."

Azure isn't the only service that will be affected by the increases. Prices in the EU/EFTA for Office 365, CRM Online, Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) and "other enterprise Online services" also will be going up in the same regions, the spokesperson confirmed. The spokesperson didn't have immediate comment on the percentages by which those prices will be going up.

Update: Finn just posted what he says are the planned percentage increases in prices for these other products. He says Office 365 prices will rise between eight and ten percent; CRM Online by 10 percent; and EMS by 26 percent.

Which customers will be paying more? According to the aforementioned spokesperson:

"The changes will not affect existing annuity volume licensing agreements but will apply to most enterprise cloud products under new or renewing contracts."

The Register, which reported on the price increases on July 6, was told by Microsoft that the Microsoft cloud price increases would affect contracts billed in Canadian dollars, too. The Microsoft spokesperson mentioned above confirmed Canada will be affect, too.

August 1 is also the date when Microsoft's client-access licensing (CAL) prices will increase by 13 percent for a number of its on-premises products.