Technichally, it's not just a method of data storage.
It's a method to publicly and transparently store signed serialized data with a relative timestamp.
That's way more than just data storage and the reason why it is considered such an enormous technological breakthrough.

Is it "new technology"? Well, the automobile wasn't "new technology" in its own right but rather the application of certain technological progress to accomplish certain means. The same holds true for Bitcoin.