It is from the standpoint of the average user that doesn't want to hassle with figuring out what backup provider to use, figure out what software they need to install, or wants to share the data automatically between multiple devices natively.

As the most popular comment here said when Dropbox was announced, "1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software."

Personally, I'm using seafile on a server, it's cheaper than iCloud or Dropbox, with more storage, and more custom functionality. Many NAS nowadays support Nextcloud out of the box.

I worked out the math a while ago and it will take over 10 years for a home-built NAS to be more cost-effective than iCloud, and that's only if there are no hardware or disk failures, and doesn't include the additional hassle of being out of Apple's model when it comes to auto-backups and storage.

It depends on what you value. If you value keeping your data at home, and accept the trade off of higher cost and the need to maintain it yourself and use some sort of sync mechanism that isn't built into the OS, then you do that.

Yes, you are obviously not their target market. Most people don't know what a NAS is, or what FTP is. With iCloud they toggle a switch and it Happens Like Magic.

Except your backup is now on-site, has no redundancy and has poor accessibility outside the home network.

Geographical redundancy and low-latency data transport are nontrivial factors in pricing cloud storage.

It was a naive and ridiculous comment then, and it's neither more informed nor less ridiculous now.

(Which is kind of a shame because a truly bulletproof, user-friendly NAS might be an interesting product. Who is going to be the Apple to Synology's Microsoft?)

So if you go somewhere else, you can get a worse experience that is not build into the OS, and save 2$/TB.

It's only a worse experience if you don't value the lack of de-duplication and the increase in privacy that gives you. Which is fine either way.

So same price and doesn’t integrate with Apple devices?