Reliance Jio's Cloud Storage Offer Challenges Tech Giants

Free offer of Mukesh Ambani to challenge expensive smartphones, Jio to compete with Google

Imagine a world where expensive smartphones with massive storage are no longer necessary. What if all your photos, videos, and documents could be stored for free, and you no longer had to shell out extra cash for high-storage devices? Mukesh Ambani, the visionary behind Reliance Jio, is making this a reality, and in the process, he might just be spoiling Google's game. At the 47th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani made a groundbreaking announcement that could redefine the smartphone industry. Jio users will now receive up to 100GB of free cloud storage as part of the new Jio Welcome Offer. This offer, set to launch during Diwali, means that users no longer need to invest in expensive smartphones just for extra storage. Instead, they can store all their data -- photos, videos, documents -- on the cloud at no cost. This move has the potential to shake up the smartphone market. Traditionally, the price of a smartphone increases with its storage capacity. By offering such a significant amount of cloud storage for free, Jio is making it possible for users to opt for more affordable devices with lower internal storage, thus challenging the market dynamics. Moreover, this offer could significantly impact companies like Google, which currently charges users for additional cloud storage beyond a limited free offering. By providing 100GB of cloud storage for free, Jio is positioning itself as a formidable competitor in the cloud storage market, potentially drawing customers away from Google and other paid cloud services. But Jio's innovations don't stop there. Ambani also unveiled plans for Jio Brain AI Suite, an artificial intelligence platform aimed at making AI accessible to all. Alongside, Jio is preparing to establish a gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, fully powered by Reliance's green energy. This ambitious project will make AI applications more affordable and accessible, further solidifying Jio's role as a leader in technological advancements. With these announcements, Mukesh Ambani is not just offering a service -- he's laying the foundation for a digital revolution that could transform the way we think about technology and storage. The days of expensive smartphones may be numbered, and Google may soon find itself facing unexpected competition from this Indian giant.

Reliance Jio's cloud storage offer could undercut Google One and iCloud pricing

Reliance Jio's introduction of 100GB of free cloud storage could disrupt the dominance of Google One and iCloud in India, experts say. Jio's offer is set to challenge the current pricing models of Google One (₹130 for 100GB) and iCloud (₹75 for 50GB), potentially prompting these services to reduce their prices. This move is part of a broader trend where Indian companies like Ola are competing with Western giants by adopting local solutions, which has already led to significant price reductions in services like Google Maps.Reliance Jio's 100GB free cloud storage offer could challenge Google One and iCloud's dominance among Android and Apple phone users in India, something which Dropbox and Microsoft's OneDrive haven't been able to do as yet, experts said. The competition could also nudge these players to lower their pricing - Google One (100GB at ₹130), iCloud (50GB at ₹75) - a trend emerging as Indian players like Ola, and MapMyIndia, challenge the large Western counterparts like Amazon Web Service (AWS), Microsoft's Azure, Google etc. "Jio has brought a very lucrative proposition for an average phone user in India who struggles to upgrade memory because of paid storage," said Neil Shah, founding partner of technology consulting firm Counterpoint Research. "But, bundling of products and services with the OS ecosystem is a key challenge here." For instance, WhatsApp or the majority of app data is currently backed up in iCloud and Google One. "There has to be some push for the policy side as well to make the tech ecosystem a level-playing field. The Competition Commission of India is looking into these matters," Shah said. Jio's strategy goes beyond data storage. "Adoption of the Jio Cloud will enable the company to collect humongous user data to train Jio's AI models, of course with consent, a common practice among the likes of Google/Apple who can bundle our photos together based on face recognition techniques etc.," Shah added. As part of its 'Connected Vision' Reliance announced the Jio AI-Cloud Welcome Offer during the company's 47th Annual General Meeting on Thursday. This Diwali, Jio users will get up to 100 GB of free cloud storage to store and access all their photos, videos, documents, all other digital content, and data at affordable prices, it said. Indian tech companies have upped the ante against their foreign rivals. Back in June, ride aggregator Ola Cabs announced its exit from Azure Cloud to its homegrown Krutrim Cloud. Later in July, It also rolled out Ola Maps, a digital mapping solution which it said was created using proprietary and open data. Exiting Google Maps saved ₹100 crore in annual spending by the company, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola said in a blog on X at the time. Subsequently, global mapping leader Google cut prices of Google Maps for developers in India by 70%, the biggest drop ever. For Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) developers, the discount was 90%. Again, in response to Google, Ola Maps also announced a 50% discount to Google's reduced prices for large volumes. It also offered 5 million free API calls per month.