Gmail to start charging, Amazon to buy Zoom, and 5G to struggle with living up to the hype – 2021 tech predictions
- Google provides 15 GBs of free storage, which includes Gmail; above this cap, it costs US$1.99 a month for 100 GB of storage, so more users will be paying
- It will be later in the year before the real benefits of using 5G will kick in, while one of the TV streaming services could be on borrowed time
It’s that time of year when we make predictions about what to see from technology in the coming year.
We already know we’re good for new iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, new smart speakers from Amazon and beautiful new smart TV sets that will have higher resolution than ever before – at a lower cost.
So let’s offer up some tech predictions about what else we’ll see, or just might.
You’ll be paying for email this year
The world’s most popular email programme Gmail, is owned by Google, which has decided to follow in Apple’s footsteps by getting more people hooked on monthly subscriptions. (Apple’s Services – which includes Apple Music, News and iCloud – is now its second highest revenue generator, above Macs, iPads and Apple Watches.)
As of June 1, Google will no longer allow users to upload their photos and videos to Google Photos for free. Google offers 15 GBs of free storage for photos, but that also includes Gmail and Google Drive backup. The ask is that you pay for storage, which starts at US$1.99 monthly – but for just 100 GB of storage.
I don’t know about you, but my Gmail is 41 GBs worth now, I have 15 GBs worth of photos in Google Photos and 1.7 TBs on Google Drive. Sure, I can clear out Google Drive, but the thing is, my email is a living, growing thing that is just not going to get smaller, no matter how hard I try to clean it up. It grows every day. So if you like your Gmail, get used to it, you might be paying for it soon.