Ask HN: How much would Google make if they charged for their products/services? On the topic of trusting Google with personal data--if Google charged an all-access price (e.g. $10/mo) for access to Gmail, Docs, Sheets, YouTube, Maps etc., how would this business model compare to today's strategy of free services with ads? Would you pay for the added privacy? |
(They market it as "for business", but I know several people who pay for it on their personal domain just for fewer ads, and once subscribed myself just so I could get a me@customdomain.com GMail address & YouTube account.)
It works well for people with disposable income, but a small minority of America has disposable income these days. Google probably makes a lot more money selling advertisements against everyone else than they would if they charged everybody for products, and it lets the general public access products that they'd never get otherwise.