Google's New Cloud Storage Plans Launch in the U.S.

[nutmac]

The part that isn't particularly clear here is, what does the backup include, 2TB of photos and videos? Well, that obviously cannot be free. The storage space heavy part of the backup is media, which can widely vary based on how much media is stored on a device, hence Apple cannot cater to that market because of high cost of variability.

When you enable iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Backup automatically removes the Camera Roll.

If you disable iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Backup can only backup whatever that is currently stored on your iOS device, which is currently limited to 256 GB. I think giving away up to 256 GB worth of backup space for 1 year or 2 years (with AppleCare+) is something Apple can afford to do.

 

[pika2000]

Trying to back up this iPhone to migrate to a new iPhone is almost impossible via iCloud.

Really?
I am looking at my Backup storage on iCloud. The total size of backup for my iPhone 6S, iPad Pro, and iPhone 5 is 3.7GB.

 

[Shanghaichica]

It's the principle, not the cost.

I guess some people think it’s free to host and maintain data online. A bit like those who think they should be buying ebooks for 50p.

 

[pika2000]

What the bloggers are missing is that Google actually offers a much much better deal, in the name of GSuite.
Get at least 5 of your friends, sign up for GSuite business, and each of you get UNLIMITED storage for $10 a month per person.

 

[Shanghaichica]

These arguments are sort of weak, generalized and deflective imo. Nothing in my quote has anything to do with Google or what Google offers. My quote was a response to @pika2000 implication that having financial means to afford one thing means it's okay to expect to be charged for another. That's dumb. To be clear, the premise is dumb, not Pika.

Principle is the argument. You don't nickel and dime customers. Especially loyal customers. To point at the $12/$24 as the issue simply misses the point entirely. I've said it before, Apple would be better served offering no free storage at all. At least then it would look less like a cheap tactic to get someone to spend more money. "We will give you just enough to ensure you exceed the limit and have to buy more storage".


This argument rings hollow because Apple has a robust services category. It rings even more hollow because it prioritizes a company's profit over customers. I'd expect that mentality from the company. Not from actual customers - you know - the topic of my actual quote. Which is why I asked for help understanding that mentality. Stockholm-type Syndrome is the only answer that makes sense to me.


No one says they have to match Google's free tier. Like I said, I think they should get rid of it. BUT if they are going to have a free tier, it should at least be 5GB per device if they want to keep that number. If not, it should 20GB per account. Again, I'm more than comfortable with them getting rid of the free tier. As is, it's the equivalent of a drug dealer giving a new client a "free taste"


No one's advocating for that. Least of all me. I've just never understood the mentality of a segment of Apple fans who will argue the merits of putting a corporations profits above the welfare of the consumer. To actively advocate giving more money to one of the richest corporations in the world simply because a person can afford to do so, is asinine imo.

Understand there are two differing perspectives: company and customer. Arguments for one aren't interchangeable with arguments for the other. My quote was about customer perspective. Your response was about company.

Once you start using iCloud or any cloud based service to back up all your devices and store your photos and videos 5GB or 15GB is not going to be enough. It costs money to host and maintain data in the cloud. So if you want to have your stuff backed up to the cloud you have to pay. Unless you want to have it all scattered around the various places that offer free storage.

 

[verpeiler]

Why do people still tell the myth "Google sells your data"... they don't. They sell targeted ads, that's it.
I can live with that. Most of the time ads are blocked anyway, and I don't care if I see an ad for something I googled some days ago.

 

[Phogro]

Hey bud. I am not as talented as you when it comes to multitasking topical arguments. Where you can intermingle arguments based on the company perspective and customer perspective as if they are equally applicable, I can't. I can't follow them either. So if we're going to continue the discourse, choose one perspective to discuss. Since I was discussing the customer perspective, I'd like to keep doing so. But since you only seem to have arguments based on a company perspective, I'd be willing to switch gears.

There is no gear switching needed. A successful company balances customer needs, employee needs, AND shareholder needs. This is not an OR thing. If you exclude any one of these from your argument you're not looking at the whole picture.

Customers - will always want more products for lower costs
Employees - will always want more pay and better benefits
Shareholders - will always want more profits from higher revenue and reduced costs

If you focus only on the customer perspective then of course it's easy to say that Apple's phones are too expensive, they charge too much for their services and they don't offer enough stuff for free. But, if you remember that they are a company with employees to pay, buildings to heat/power, and shareholders to please you'll realize that they need to actually charge for their products and services. The price they charge is dictated by market research, demand, and many other factors.

But if you want to live in your simple world where things are black and white I can't stop you.

 

[69Mustang]

Once you start using iCloud or any cloud based service to back up all your devices and store your photos and videos 5GB or 15GB is not going to be enough. It costs money to host and maintain data in the cloud. So if you want to have your stuff backed up to the cloud you have to pay. Unless you want to have it all scattered around the various places that offer free storage.

Respectfully, nothing you stated counters anything in my argument. It seems there's some sort of group think going around where the only argument people seem to be able to muster is an argument that consists of Apple has to spend money to maintain the service. Every company has to do that. My argument is, as stated, from the perspective of the customer. Your reply, as has been every reply, from the perspective of Apple. Apple having to pay to maintain it's services has nothing to do with my original and subsequent comments.

 

[Shanghaichica]

There is no gear switching needed. A successful company balances customer needs, employee needs, AND shareholder needs. This is not an OR thing. If you exclude any one of these from your argument you're not looking at the whole picture.

Customers - will always want more products for lower costs
Employees - will always want more pay and better benefits
Shareholders - will always want more profits from higher revenue and reduced costs

If you focus only on the customer perspective then of course it's easy to say that Apple's phones are too expensive, they charge too much for their services and they don't offer enough stuff for free. But, if you remember that they are a company with employees to pay, buildings to heat/power, and shareholders to please you'll realize that they need to actually charge for their products and services. The price they charge is dictated by market research, demand, and many other factors.

But if you want to live in your simple world where things are black and white I can't stop you.

If companies only looked at things from the customers perspective they’d all go out of business very quickly.

 

[lec0rsaire]

I wish Apple would drop their iCloud prices. I would love to use iCloud Photo Library. I still pay for iTunes Match since I’m not interested in paying $120 for streaming when I already have a huge library and hate new mainstream music.

I also pay $1/month for 50GB to be able to backup all the photo and video I shoot on my phone while on vacation. I then transfer everything to my MBP freeing up most of the 50GB. I would use iCloud Drive for my MBP but I don’t want to pay ridiculous amounts for cloud storage when I already pay for Adobe, Netflix, cable/internet, phone, etc.

 

[spacemnspiff]

Unfortunately, that would be an incorrect assumption. He further clarified that he indeed meant more than any other corporation in America. Had he said tech corportation, it would have been correct. Any corporation, however, is simply wrong.

Sure. Let's start with historical data from 1998 thru 2018 on Lobbyist Spending Data from Opensecrets.org. Since who spends what seems to be the question, let's just go straight to Top Spenders. You will notice that no matter how far you go back will you ever find Alphabet or Google the top spender. As I said, it's easily disproved. My information is just a wee bit more sourced, don't you think?
[doublepost=1534441298][/doublepost]
That article is wrong. Sorry. But every cloud has a silver lining. The link from @spacemnspiff nytimes article to the Google Transparency Project is pretty interesting. It shows where Google is spending some of that money.

Thanks for the data on lobbyist spending, if you look closely Alphabet is the only traditional corporation at the top, hence the statement that I lifted from NYT still stands.


The GTP is definitely interesting. Excerpts for our reading pleasure, which to me surely sounds like sugar, tobacco or oil industry lobby...

The academic papers examined encompassed a wide range of policy and legal issues of critical importance to Google’s bottom line, including antitrust, privacy, net neutrality, search neutrality, patents and copyright. They were also tied to specific issues that Google sought to influence.

For example, Eric Schmidt, then Google’s chief executive, cited a Google-funded author in written answers to Congress to back his contention that his company wasn’t a monopoly. He didn’t mention Google had paid for the paper.

The reach of Google extends further still. Our analysis showed that Google-funded studies routinely cited each other. The practice helps obscure the original Google funding and creates the impression of a large and growing body of academic research that supports the company’s policy positions.

I think giving away up to 256 GB worth of backup space for 1 year or 2 years (with AppleCare+) is something Apple can afford to do.

That is a slippery slope, what Apple can afford and what it can monetize are two very different things, I don't seem them converging.

 

[ratspg]

Its hilarious how many of you keep talking about Google and how they data mine. On consumer plans, yes you are 100% correct. Are people really not aware that if you are a business customer (Gsuite) they do not mine at all and it is strictly enforced for them not to? Plans start at $5-10 for up to 1TB (now 2TB) no mining. Calm down with your privacy and thinking you're so "safe" with Apple. Data online = data online. You're paying Apple because you "believe" and "trust" them in regards to privacy, doesn't mean its actually any safer than other options out there. Remember when you are concerned with Google and privacy issues, just use a Gsuite account.

 

[JGIGS]

$1000 iPhone: fine
99cents a month for 50GB iCloud: too expensive
Sure.

I'm going to play both sides of this one. This day and age you need a smartphone no matter what. However, you can live without cloud storage but it sure makes things easier and convenient. If you can live with 50 Gigs, most people probably can for a while unless they are backing up a lot big stuff like videos, $.99 x 12 x 80 years a life times worth if you're a teen, of 50g storage would be $960 at $12 a year. This really isn't breaking the bank.

That being said if Apple matched what Google offered for free 15 vs 5g they would eliminate any argument on Google being better for something which to me is always an advantage in an oligopoly.

 

[69Mustang]

Thanks for the data on lobbyist spending, if you look closely Alphabet is the only traditional corporation at the top, hence the statement that I lifted from NYT still stands.

The last full year (2017) shows Blue Cross/Blue Shield and AT&T are ahead of Alphabet so the statement still doesn't stand. Even thus far in 2018 BCBS is still ahead of Alphabet and AT&T is right behind. Even if one says BCBS isn't a corporation, there's still AT&T. The only way that article from NYT is accurate is if they intended to make the implication that Alphabet was the largest tech corporation spender in Silicon Valley. One might make that inference considering the article was about the lobbying efforts in Silicon Valley... but, it definitely isn't what they said.

Regardless, to make that statement from the NYT truthful, facts have to be ignored.

 

[malofx]

Stop contributing to Google and Apple.

Google promised free GBs upgrade after a certain level, so I used to contribute to Google maps and adding reviews, right before I qualified for that free storage, they discontinued that free storage, and at that exact moment, I stopped contributing and adding reviews to their Google Maps, they missed out with me, because I do get out enough to contribute.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

https://www.arqbackup.com

I use the app Arq for this. I backup online to Backblaze B2 servers, but it also works with Google Drive.

Thanks for the hint. I will give it a try.

 

[spacemnspiff]

The last full year (2017) shows Blue Cross/Blue Shield and AT&T are ahead of Alphabet so the statement still doesn't stand. Even thus far in 2018 BCBS is still ahead of Alphabet and AT&T is right behind. Even if one says BCBS isn't a corporation, there's still AT&T. The only way that article from NYT is accurate is if they intended to make the implication that Alphabet was the largest tech corporation spender in Silicon Valley. One might make that inference considering the article was about the lobbying efforts in Silicon Valley... but, it definitely isn't what they said.

Regardless, to make that statement from the NYT truthful, facts have to be ignored.

Thanks for that pointing out, my error, I missed BCBS in 2018 and as the article pointed out ATT spent more than Alphabet in 2017. The NYT article then contains an error.

Coming back to the point being made, Google spends more than most of the companies on lobbying to continue with what I contend, unfettered nefarious activities, and user privacy being one. It has transformed itself a big lobby monster such as sugar, tobacco and oil.

 

[H2SO4]

I did. Bought a Synology NAS. The apps aren’t as polished as Apple’s or Google’s, but Synology has a photo app called Moments that is almost as good: has face detection, automatic albums, automatic uploads at full resolution. I can create shares for my family and friends to view some albums. All the data is stored locally on my NAS, and never mined for ads. They’re actively improving it, updates come often.

I got 20TB of storage (5x4TB), but with two-drive redundancy, I get 12TB of usable storage. Considering how much Apple and Google charge for 2TB, I break even pretty quick.

The trick is finding another friend with a Synology NAS, that lives as far away as possible, and trading encrypted offsite backups for each other.

That’s a pretty nice set up.

 

[69Mustang]

Thanks for that pointing out, my error, I missed BCBS in 2018 and as the article pointed out ATT spent more than Alphabet in 2017. The NYT article then contains an error.

Coming back to the point being made, Google spends more than most of the companies on lobbying to continue with what I contend, unfettered nefarious activities, and user privacy being one. It has transformed itself a big lobby monster such as sugar, tobacco and oil.

I had no issue with the other points you were making and made no commentary regarding any of it. In fact my first sentence to you referenced that fact. My only point of contention was the claim you made based on the NYT info. I stated it was easily disproved, and it was. I subsequently stated the NYT article was wrong, and it was. You'll notice at no point did I comment about any other assertion made by you. My intent wasn't to debate the merits of your overarching point. It was simply to point out the error in that one single point.
To your credit, you did acknowledge the error in your data. As for the money they spend, hey, a lot of companies spend a lot of money on lobbying. They're all searchable by name if you want to know how much they all spend. What they spend it on? Don't know.

 

[Aston441]

And if they give a free 50GB, people will want 55GB for free, or 100GB....it just will never end.

No I just want exactly enough to back up the amount of on board storage I have in each Apple device I purchase, so I don't have to use Google.

 

[Henk Poley]

Mostly interested in this because they promise some kind of one-on-one tech support.

With Google it has always been problematic how to reach the right people if you bump into a bug. Seen in a very positive light, this could be 'it'.

Probably it won't, but hey..

 

[I7guy]

... It rings even more hollow because it prioritizes a company's profit over customers. I'd expect that mentality from the company. Not from actual customers - you know - the topic of my actual quote. Which is why I asked for help understanding that mentality. Stockholm-type Syndrome is the only answer that makes sense to me....

Profits over customers. Yep, one of the best Apple memes out there.

 

[wheelhot]

If only Apple allowed folder based sharing instead of individual then I'll be migrating fully to iCloud servers :/

 

[Muttznuttz]

https://www.arqbackup.com

I use the app Arq for this. I backup online to Backblaze B2 servers, but it also works with Google Drive.

Same here. I previously used Google Drive for back-end storage and recently moved to B2. All my backup data is encrypted at source by Arq. They can't mine what they can't see.

 

[FFR]

https://www.arqbackup.com

I use the app Arq for this. I backup online to Backblaze B2 servers, but it also works with Google Drive.

Would you recommend it?

My Drobo crapped out and I was thinking of moving my backups to the cloud.