Remember when Google launched Gmail with 1GB storage ten years ago? It was such a massive leap from the meager storage quotas of existing email services that everyone thought it was a joke. The April 1st launch date probably didn’t help either.
Now, with weeks still to go until April 1st, Google has done it again, this time offering 1TB of Google Drive storage for just $9.99 per month, or $1.99 for 100GB. The 15GB plan remains free.
Back then, I snapped up a Gmail account. Or rather, I begged folks for an invite. Now I’m not so willing to jump. Yes, Google Drive now offers 10x the storage of my Dropbox account for the same $10 per month, but do you really trust Google these days? I don’t even stay signed in to Google search anymore – I’m giving the Evil Empire the contents of my hard drive.
Will the other providers follow along like the email services did back in 2004. I guess, but it may be tricky. Google has its own infrastructure, but Dropbox uses Amazon for storage, which means it’s stuck paying Amazon’s prices. So, maybe the only option in a year will be Google Drive, whereupon Google can ditch it just like it did with Google Reader. Thanks a lot, Google.
Source: Google Blog
