Remember when Google started offering free Google Photos storage if you bought a Pixel? It came with a few strings attached. Well, Google may be doing something similar soon, this time teasing a potential year of Gemini Advanced for anyone who snags a Pixel 9, similar to what Chromebook Plus purchases already offer.
The move is clearly designed to get people so hooked on Gemini that they subscribe once the free trial is over. However, Google might face a tough sell here. People don’t seem to care about the AI hype, and users have had it with all the subscriptions. In case Google hadn’t noticed, it’s a tough economy out there and the last thing people need is one more monthly fee.
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Google’s “free” services
Sometimes free ain’t so free
Google was quick to jump on the monthly sub bandwagon, but it has a bit of a mixed-bag reputation when it comes to free services. Forget the entire data-mining part of the company, I’m talking about free services like Gmail and, more specifically, Google Photos.
Photos used to be completely free, offering unlimited uploads, provided the uploads were in “original quality.” Then, in mid-2021, Google announced Photos was no longer free but would count against your 15GB of storage. This would apply to any photos going forward, so our existing libraries were safe. The same went for Gmail and most of Google’s other services. A Google One subscription was rolled out so we could pay for more storage.
Google also enticed us to buy a Pixel 5 with the promise of unlimited Google Photos storage. The catch? Photos had to be taken with a Pixel and uploaded in original quality. High-quality photos would count against our storage.
But wait, there was a second catch. The Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, and later Pixel models were not part of the deal. So, if you bought a Pixel 6 in September 2021, just two months after the free Google Photos announcement, thinking you would snag free Photos, then guess again. Yes, I was the sucker in this particular instance.
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Subscription fatigue is real
Getting users to pay for AI is a tall order
We Android users have a reputation for being tight with our cash. We don’t like paying for things if we don’t have to. We’re just savvy; we use Android because it’s an open platform, and we can find a ton of free and open-source alternatives to use. Google used to know this and built the company on offering free services, but now it’s turning into a premium company, and it’s unclear if we’re all on board with this.
For starters, we’re all tired of subscriptions. There are too many, and households have to carefully pick and choose the ones they need. Google isn’t only competing against other AI companies like OpenAI, either, it’s competing against every subscription service. That means Gemini is up against Netflix, Spotify, Xbox, Sony, and even Google’s own YouTube.
Which do you think offers more value to the average family?
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AI fatigue is setting in
How many people care about AI?
The other thing we’re all tired of hearing about is AI. This technology, while cool for what it does, simply doesn’t have much impact on the average person’s daily life. Some people in specialized industries use it to help with their work, but Google clearly isn’t focusing on niche markets here. Google wants mass consumption and wants millions to shell out $20 a month for the pleasure.
But I suspect most people won’t do that. Nobody cares about AI as much as tech companies would have us believe. And a series of recent tech blunders has further poisoned the appeal, such as the recent Crowdstrike blackout and Gemini’s own picture generation censorship fiasco. These kinds of headlines make the average person think twice about becoming too dependent on technology. They sure don’t want to pay for it.
Then there’s Meta’s Llama 3.1 release, which Meta claims is as good as Gemini Advanced, but superior when it comes to realistic picture generation. Meta AI is completely free, and Meta announced it was now open-source as well.
Here are some better ideas
Google could sell more Pixels with better value propositions
So, if a year of free AI isn’t guaranteed to get people to buy a Pixel 9, what might? Perhaps Google should bring back unlimited Google Photos for Pixel users. It was once a major selling point for Google’s phones, and it was likely greed that put an end to it.
Alternatively, a year of free YouTube Premium (including YouTube Music) would be a slam-dunk for the Pixel 9. The phones could potentially fly off the shelves with an offer like that. It’s also a subscription that people are likely to keep once their year is up.
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AI won’t sell more phones
All of this means Google’s rumored plans to offer a year of Gemini Advanced for new Pixel 9 buyers won’t be attractive enough. Never mind the fact that some people aren’t interested in the Pixel 9, people don’t care about AI as much as Google wishes they would, and once the free year is up, people may not pay for it. Instead, Google should one-up the competition and offer something useful, like a year of YouTube Premium.
It’s a tough landscape for a company like Google. A software company that is also a hardware company and is also the largest internet company and advertising agency. Going all-in on AI may not be the best strategy. But what would I know? I’m the sucker who bought a Pixel 6 in 2021 for the free photo storage I never received.
