Smartphone maker HTC has confirmed that they will be offering 5GB of free storage through Dropbox to anyone that buys a new HTC handset. All future HTC phones running Android will come with a Dropbox application pre-loaded, although it isn't clear yet if current HTC users will get the same deal.
Dropbox currently offers any user up to 2GB of storage for free but the new deal with HTC provides its users with 3GB of additional space. Likely not by coincidence, this is the same amount of space that Apple offers on iCloud for iOS 5 users.
The deal is exclusive to Android users only, however. HTC users with a Windows Phone can use Microsoft's SkyDrive which provides 25GB of storage in the cloud for free.
HTC first announced the partnership on their Facebook page to mixed reactions from users. Some feel that 5GB is an adequate amount of space while others believe it's too little, too late. If you fall into the latter category, Dropbox also offers paid services that provide more storage. 50GB of storage is $9.99 per month, 100GB will set you back $19.99 monthly and a 350GB package with five licenses sells for $795 annually.
HTC's announcement was pretty vague as we don't know if current HTC users will have access to the service. Mobiledia says that Dropbox isn't retroactive, meaning people with older HTC phones won't be able to use the service. Pocket-lint says users of newer handsets running Sense 3.5 will be able to use Dropbox, which should be launching sometime this month.