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Topic	Gmail hooked us on free storage. Now Google is making us pay
aki_sora 10/22/19 8:55:32 AM #1:	Google lured billions of consumers to its digital services by offering copious free cloud storage. Thats beginning to change. The Alphabet Inc unit has whittled down some free storage offers in recent months, while prodding more users toward a new paid cloud subscription called Google One. Thats happening as the amount of data people stash online continues to soar. When people hit those caps, they realise they have little choice but to start paying, or risk losing access to emails, photos and personal documents. The cost isnt excessive for most consumers, but at the scale Google operates, this could generate billions of dollars in extra revenue each year for the company. Google didnt respond to an email seeking comment. A big driver of the shift is Gmail. Google shook up the email business when Gmail launched in 2004 with much more free storage than rivals were providing at the time. It boosted the storage cap every couple of years, but in 2013 it stopped. Peoples inboxes kept filling up. And now that some of Googles other free storage offers are shrinking, consumers are beginning to get nasty surprises. "I was merrily using the account and one day I noticed I hadnt received any email since the day before, said Rod Adams, a nuclear energy analyst and retired naval officer. After using Gmail since 2006, hed finally hit his 15GB cap and Google had cut him off. Switching away from Gmail wasnt an easy option because many of his social and business contacts reach him that way. "I just said OK, been free for a long time, now Im paying, Adams said. Other Gmail users arent so happy about the changes. "I am unreasonably sad about using almost all of my free google storage. Felt infinite. Please dont make me pay! I need U gmail googledocs!, one person tweeted in September. Some people have tweeted panicked messages to Google in recent months as warnings about their storage limits hit. One self-described tech enthusiast said hes opened multiple Gmail accounts to avoid bumping up on Googles storage limits. Google has also ended or limited other promotions recently that gave people free cloud storage and helped them avoid Gmail crises. New buyers of Chromebook laptops used to get 100GB at no charge for two years. In May 2019 that was cut to one year. Googles Pixel smartphone, originally launched in 2016, came with free, unlimited photo storage via the companys Photos service. The latest Pixel 4 handset that came out in October still has free photo storage, but the images are compressed now, reducing the quality. More than 11,500 people in a week signed an online petition to bring back the full, free Pixel photos deal. Evgeny Rezunenko, the petition organiser, called Googles change a "hypocritical and cash grabbing move. "Let us remind Google that part of the reason of people choosing Pixel phones over other manufacturers sporting a similar hefty price tag was indeed this service, he wrote. Smartphones dramatically increased the number of photos people take one estimate put the total for 2017 at 1.2 trillion. Those images quickly fill up storage space on handsets, so tech companies, including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Google, offered cloud storage as an alternative. Now those online memories are piling up, some of these companies are charging users to keep them. --- this is GameFAQs and stating an opinion is a declaration of WAR! <cite>aki_sora posted [p:929087203] in Gmail hook... [t:78103078]...</cite> <quote>Google lured billions of consumers to its digital services by offering copious free cloud storage. Thats beginning to change. The Alphabet Inc unit has whittled down some free storage offers in recent months, while prodding more users toward a new paid cloud subscription called Google One. Thats happening as the amount of data people stash online continues to soar. When people hit those caps, they realise they have little choice but to start paying, or risk losing access to emails, photos and personal documents. The cost isnt excessive for most consumers, but at the scale Google operates, this could generate billions of dollars in extra revenue each year for the company. Google didnt respond to an email seeking comment. A big driver of the shift is Gmail. Google shook up the email business when Gmail launched in 2004 with much more free storage than rivals were providing at the time. It boosted the storage cap every couple of years, but in 2013 it stopped. Peoples inboxes kept filling up. And now that some of Googles other free storage offers are shrinking, consumers are beginning to get nasty surprises. "I was merrily using the account and one day I noticed I hadnt received any email since the day before, said Rod Adams, a nuclear energy analyst and retired naval officer. After using Gmail since 2006, hed finally hit his 15GB cap and Google had cut him off. Switching away from Gmail wasnt an easy option because many of his social and business contacts reach him that way. "I just said OK, been free for a long time, now Im paying, Adams said. Other Gmail users arent so happy about the changes. "I am unreasonably sad about using almost all of my free google storage. Felt infinite. Please dont make me pay! I need U gmail googledocs!, one person tweeted in September. Some people have tweeted panicked messages to Google in recent months as warnings about their storage limits hit. One self-described tech enthusiast said hes opened multiple Gmail accounts to avoid bumping up on Googles storage limits. Google has also ended or limited other promotions recently that gave people free cloud storage and helped them avoid Gmail crises. New buyers of Chromebook laptops used to get 100GB at no charge for two years. In May 2019 that was cut to one year. Googles Pixel smartphone, originally launched in 2016, came with free, unlimited photo storage via the companys Photos service. The latest Pixel 4 handset that came out in October still has free photo storage, but the images are compressed now, reducing the quality. More than 11,500 people in a week signed an online petition to bring back the full, free Pixel photos deal. Evgeny Rezunenko, the petition organiser, called Googles change a "hypocritical and cash grabbing move. "Let us remind Google that part of the reason of people choosing Pixel phones over other manufacturers sporting a similar hefty price tag was indeed this service, he wrote. Smartphones dramatically increased the number of photos people take one estimate put the total for 2017 at 1.2 trillion. Those images quickly fill up storage space on handsets, so tech companies, including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Google, offered cloud storage as an alternative. Now those online memories are piling up, some of these companies are charging users to keep them. --- this is GameFAQs and stating an opinion is a declaration of WAR!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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