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A lot has been said and written about cloud computing so far, right from its potential to revolutionise computing to the security concerns that revolve around it. Cloud storage has caught up in a big way, with both small and big technology establishments, and is already one of the biggest things to happen to the world of tech.
But while cloud storage has been greeted enthusiastically for industrial usage, it has received a mixed response at a more personal level, at least in India.
The sharing cloud
The option to share data over the cloud has probably been the most widely used one at a personal level. Websites like Megaupload, 4shared and Bittorent had been providing peer-to-peer file sharing services for a long time, but there were concerns about privacy and security. Many P2P users also faced the problem of slow downloads if there were not enough peers “seeding” the file.
With Dropbox, users have a much easier-to-share and personal interface in terms of file sharing and the service has found use with many Indians. Also, the file sharing service is cross-platform, so it also became popular in a market that has seen a spurt in growth of smartphones and tablets’ sales.
“My brother lives in Oxford, and we usually share movies over Dropbox as it is quite simple to do so,” said Shaili Makanwala, a student. But Shaili also adds that she would’ve stuck to sharing files through Gmail if it could accommodate the movies, as she does with her assignments.
The media cloud
Although users share quite a lot of files over cloud services, many still feel uncomfortable over using the cloud as the primary storage hub for access to media on the go. Rahul Shankhwar, an automotive professional, explains why, “I like watching downloaded TV shows or listening to music on the go, but I don’t store them on any cloud service because I am always wary of getting decent WiFi bandwidth speeds or 3G network coverage in many areas.”
He believes that carrying an additional weight of about 400 grams of a one terabyte portable hard drive can be much more convenient than waiting for streaming files over excruciatingly slow airport WiFi connections.
Like Rahul, many smartphone or tablet users find it more convenient to store data in portable storage devices than depend on WiFi connections in public places to gain access to their data. Shaili Makanwala added that she could’ve depended on cloud storage completely if her college WiFi connection had a better bandwidth.
Access to a WiFi is usually the more preferred option amongst smartphone and tablet users, as most devices consume much more battery charge while using mobile data like EDGE or 3G.
Cost of the cloud
Almost every smartphone and manufacturer is giving out free cloud storage accounts with a new device purchase, with free access ranging from 2GB to even 50GB. But existing users have access to ‘Freemium’ services, which give small storage spaces for free, and bigger ones at a premium. These paid accounts can start anywhere are $2.99 a year to even $100 a year, depending on the service type and storage space.
Ganpati Nadkarni, a new smartphone user, thinks that having a microSD card for his new smartphone will be better than storing all his movies on the cloud. Ganpati is an aviation professional, who spends most of his idle time in airports, and believes that investing in a high capacity memory card is better than spending almost the same amount of money for a service that requires him to depend on unreliable WiFi services.
Connectivity
But it’s not like that the users do not want to use the cloud. Most users believe that they can use more of cloud storage services if only they had decent internet connections.
Although 3G services aren’t very expensive now, users express concern over not getting the ‘blazing fast’ internet speeds as promised, in many areas. Also, WiFi bandwidths at workplaces, places of study and public places are not satisfactory for a fast-growing market where not just laptops, tablets and smartphones but WiFi cameras and personal movie viewing glasses also require to be connected at all times.
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