D. Frankel over at paidContent links to a new story out from PriceWaterhouseCoopers taking a look at consumer attitudes toward cloud-based digital storage. He sees the survey’s results as sort of “glass 30 percent full, 70 percent empty,” but that’s just, like, his opinion, man.
Here’s the long and short of it: PriceWaterHouseCoopers conducted a survey of 502 consumers of varying ages across the country. The survey found that nine out of ten consumers say they’re inclined to use cloud-based storage, but seven out of ten also say they’d be less likely to use such a service if charged for it.
Looking at the results one way, it looks like cloud service providers might be in trouble: people want their services, but they don’t want to pay for it. That would be bad news for the industry, if the survey’s other findings weren’t so encouraging. For instance, consumers aged 50-59 were more likely to show interest in cloud storage. The survey’s internals also showed increasing awareness among consumers of their options with regard to cloud storage.
So why is all this a good thing? It shows undeniable growth in the industry over the past few years. Whereas the cloud was formerly the province of early adopters and IT professionals, we’re seeing now that more people are aware of the efficiencies the cloud can introduce into their lives. That means more people are likely to use the cloud. The more people you get using a product, even if you’re offering it for free, the more likely you are to attract paying customers. More customers is almost always a good thing. What’s an even better thing is if those customers get a cloud solution that gives them access to all their data without breaking the bank.
