Google One Hits 150 Million Subscribers With Help of AI
Going by Reuters, Google One, Alphabet’s AI-enhanced subscription for cloud storage, has surged beyond 150 million users, thereby proving that users are willing to pay for premium digital real estate and the finer technology.
Starting at zero six years ago, the Google One brand has become a great commercial success, and now it has over 150 million subscribers. An unbelievable growth of 50% in just a few months since February 2024 stands as proof that the cloud storage solution by Google is finally gaining some momentum all on its own.
In the same month, Google upped the ante, launching a premium $19.99-a-month subscription (around Rs. 1,710) that unleashes AI superpowers unavailable to free users. Think of it as a VIP pass to Google’s AI playground. Meanwhile, the familiar Google One storage plans remain, offering ample digital space at budget-friendly prices – just don’t expect them to pack the same AI punch.
Google’s AI subscription tier is already a hit, raking in “millions” of sign-ups, revealed Vice President Shimrit Ben-Yair.
Going Beyond Search: Google One is Alphabet making a strategic and paradigm change, moving away from publicising revenue which in 2024 constituted 75 plus percent of chart-toppling revenue of $350 billion.
Can Alphabet leverage subscriptions into a cash fortification against the rise of AI? As search supremacy faces challenge, powered by ChatGPT, by competitors like OpenAI and even its own Gemini, an Alphabet subscription strategy may just be the long-term stabilizer it needs in an AI-disrupted world.
Now that Apple’s Safari endures such a tremor of AI quake, court exhibits have established the first-ever dip in Safari searches, being a direct shot from growth in the AI alternatives. But the Old Apple has not yet taken the count; faint murmurs of an AI-powered search from their end are growing louder. The loss is for real for Alphabet, which saw $150 billion disappear from the emergence of AI ambitions at Apple. New search wars, or just the opening shot?
Advertising has not yet come to terms with the AI interfaces, unlike the search engines that have. This is half done. So-if we consider pop-ups-they do not like disruptive pop-ups. They would rather see users select an option for direct subscription or pay as they use it.
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Advertising completely eludes these AI interfaces, much in contrast to search engines. So, an incursion would be unwanted. Thus, such models do not subscribe to the stuck-with-you paradigm. Rather, they prefer to let the users do the subscribing through one-on-one subscriptions or pay as you go.
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Advertising is not in the good books of these AI interfaces in contrast to search engines. Hence, an incursion would be unwanted. So, the current models do not go along with the stuck-with-you metaphor. They would rather keep it so that the user gets to directly subscribe or pays as he goes.
Investors have questioned how Google will adapt.
Forget endless ads! Gemini, Google’s attempt, is about to chart a path toward your wallet. Think of it as YouTube Premium for AI. CEO Sundar Pichai hinted at some sort of subscription model on a recent earnings call, suggesting the intent is to bring premium AI experiences to the end user without any gyrations of ads along the way. Subscriptions will be the focus this year for Google, giving users a choice: powerful AI, at a price; or something else altogether.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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