In a bid to disrupt the domination of big tech players such as Google and Apple in the B2C cloud space, Reliance announced a disruptive welcome offer on Jio Cloud providing 100GB of free storage. Google charges ₹130 a month or ₹1,300 per annum for the same storage capacity.
Experts are cautiously optimistic about Jio’s proposition in a price sensitive market like India.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO and Chief Analyst at Greyhound Research, was measured with his take on an affordable Jio Cloud, “The reason why consumers are willing to pay incrementally higher costs for a Google or an Apple are because they find the benefits of adopting a native cloud ecosystem to be invaluable. You must note that it is complex and cumbersome to operate on a third-party cloud service or switch to another cloud ecosystem completely.”
According to Gogia, in order to guarantee success Jio will have to make its cloud service native to a large chunk of the smartphone and app ecosystem. “This means Jio must partner with smartphone OEMs who operate their own OS, such as Xiaomi, or Oppo and ensure that their OS becomes native to those devices as well. It needs to be a complete ecosystem creation, having enough smartphone OEMs on Jio Cloud, connected TVs on Jio Cloud, developers on Jio Cloud to give the rich experience and interoperability rivaling the Apples and the Googles of the world.” Gogia also cautioned that Reliance will not be able to keep pricing affordable for its cloud service in the long run, if it is able to disrupt the market.
HinduBusinessLine.com
Additional comments by Greyhound Research analyst:
It’s an interesting move by Jio to offer FREE 100 GB storage, but we at Greyhound Research are cautiously optimistic. There are many reasons, and some are included in the quote above, but broadly, the reasons we are cautious are:
1/ There are no free lunches, so if they are free, the consumers pay a cost via their data. It might not seem like a problem today, but only until the data is used to target them. That’s when it gets scary.
2/ Even if one were to sign up using the free plan, there are no guarantees they won’t start charging once consumers are heavily invested in their data. And moving clouds is no joke. Like it or not, the business and its economics will kick in sooner or later.
3/Cloud consumption isn’t as straightforward—unless the ecosystem offers a cloud that is “native” to the OS and other apps, substantial effort is required to get users to download third-party cloud services. If and when they do, they expect the experience to be smooth and native and ensure the user experience does not get broken. It sounds more straightforward, in theory.
4/ Smartphones are getting cheaper, and adding more storage is getting easier. So, the question is, how many customers even need 100 GB storage on tap? Again, think volumes and not micro-segments of customers.
5/ Most smartphone makers offer free space on their cloud since getting access to consumer data benefits them intensely. So, unless a government regulation deems them not to provide their cloud, there’s no way these OEMs are signing up. Of course, this assumes Jio won’t cut sweet deals, which they can use to activate and engage the ecosystem.
Of course, there are many more reasons that we can list here, but this is a small sample. The bottom line is that free cloud storage hardly moves the needle now, and for any Cloud Service Provider (CSP) looking to ace this game, working the ecosystem and ironing out consumption is the only way forward.
Copyright Policy. All content contained on the Greyhound Research website is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast without the prior written permission of Greyhound Research, or, in the case of third-party materials, the prior written permission of the copyright owner of that content. You may not alter, delete, obscure, or conceal any trademark, copyright, or other notice appearing in any Greyhound Research content. We request our readers to not copy Greyhound Research content and not republish or redistribute them (in whole or partially) via emails or republishing them in any media, including websites, newsletters, or intranets. We understand that you may want to share this content with others, so we’ve added all relevant links and tools under each content piece that allow you to share the content. If you have any questions, please contact our Community Relations Team at connect@thofgr.com.