Many Google products are considered market leaders in their category or at least are widely used. This is probably due, among other things, to the fact that most of them are offered free of charge and are financed in alternative ways. But recently there has been a completely different development because users are increasingly being asked to pay or are only given a limited range of functions.
Google was and is known for many years as a company that offers its products for free and presumably puts the comfort of the users above its own profit. The latter is rarely the case, but of course, you can’t blame a profit-oriented company for that. But the first feature is also becoming shakier and shakier because lately the thumbscrews have been tightened more and more and users are asked to pay for individual products.
The deal of the last few years has never been made clear, but it was very clear: We (Google) offer you (users) everything for free, collect data, create a profile and show you suitable advertising everywhere on the web. A good deal for many people, which is obviously also worthwhile for Google. But it is increasingly developing in the direction of asking users to pay with their data AND their money.
Although these are only small and very slow steps, the direction is very clear: the time for generous offers is over and Google no longer seems willing to subsidize some products with the success of others without exception. The steps of the last 12 months alone show this very clearly.
Google Photos
The phasing out of free unlimited storage on Google Photos last year was a very big break, showing the new direction like no other development. The unlimited storage for high-quality images and videos previously advertised for years has been phased out entirely with a few exceptions. Completely understandable from a business point of view, but it is a clear shift in strategy and as a user, you can argue that it must have paid off for Google in some way (subsidized) in the years before.
Even today, there is still 15 GB for the Photos-Drive-GMail package for free, but Google’s endless shoveling away of media into the cloud is over. At least if you don’t want to sign up for a Google One subscription. Some special effects in image processing are also available exclusively for paying users.
G Suite
At that time, G Suite was offered free of charge as “Google Apps for your Domain”. That was more than ten years ago, but it’s only now that the free accounts are being pulled the plug and want to get rid of this user group or convert it into paying users. It was unfortunate that they were initially very inflexible. The fact that now, after more than ten years, they want to finally discontinue the offer out of the blue already shows what goals are currently being pursued internally and what new potential for savings is being sought.
WhatsApp backup
A message that has not yet been confirmed, but which can potentially affect several billion users due to the intersection: The WhatsApp backup is to be restricted. So far, unlimited storage space was available for this, but in the future, the limit could be as high as 2 gigabytes. Including media, that’s not much, so it very quickly deviates from the free contingent and scrapes the available storage space as an additional product. Could be related to the change in Google Photos.
It is unclear who has paid for it so far. I can’t imagine Google Drive offering something like this out of sheer charity and WhatsApp gratefully using it. It is possible that this change does not come purely from Google, but that WhatsApp or Facebook or Meta wants to reduce costs.
Google Meet
Google Meet is the company’s “new” video messenger and should replace Google Duo in the medium term. It’s important to remember that Meet is actually a paid product that’s being offered for free for the duration of the home office boom. The free period and the conditions (currently 100 participants and 60 minutes) have been extended several times, but are still considered an exception. It will only be a matter of time before regular non-G Suite users will be charged for this service. But Meet would have to establish itself first.
YouTube, Android and Chrome coming soon?
There are small indications on the horizon that other platforms may also be hit in the future: the endless YouTube memory is certainly something to start with. The practical Chrome synchronization and the extensive protection package of the browser could eventually become part of Google One with extended features.
And Nokia just became the first manufacturer to open Pandora’s box of charging for Android updates. Because Google sees three years as sufficient, that might also be a model for Google to extend to five years. Costs are passed on to the user via the smartphone manufacturer. But I don’t want to shout anything.
Google has every right to charge for all these things. You could also charge all user accounts and it would be perfectly fine. Of course, you then have to see how many users stay or look for another digital home. A pure cost-benefit calculation. Therefore, this article is not intended as a criticism, but merely as a snapshot to capture the current situation.
I think this trend will continue over the next few years and more and more users will have to pay for products or special features. Because the willingness to pay on the web has risen sharply, this is of course also a nice counter-model to advertising financing. But because Google operates both in parallel, you have to be careful not to push it too far.