360 Cloud Disk is retired and other survivors will play the Hunger Games

"Winter is here, can spring be far behind?" This sentence can summarize the recent shutdown of 360 Cloud Disk.

Every day, Internet businesses emerge and disappear. Yesterday, 360 Cloud Disk announced that it would stop providing personal cloud disk services and would not consider resuming services until the legality and security of network storage and content transmission were completely resolved. After that, it would transform into an enterprise cloud service. This event was interpreted by some media as the end of the "cloud disk era". Prior to this, Sina Weipan, Kingsoft Quickdisk, UC Netdisk, and Huawei Netdisk had already been shut down.

Most of the top ten online storage services have already left the market, and now there are only three major players: Baidu Netdisk, Tianyi Cloud, and Weiyun. Yesterday, there was news that Baidu Netdisk would also terminate its service, which was immediately denied by Baidu. However, the personal cloud storage market has long been in turmoil, especially for ordinary users like us. We have to worry about the cloud storage we use. Will it be the next 360 Cloud Disk? Every time a network storage service is closed, there is a saying: This will not be the last one.

The personal cloud storage market is unlikely to disappear

Is the personal cloud storage market really dead? The answer is no.

Personal cloud storage will only become more and more important in the mobile Internet era. Today, everyone has more and more smart devices, such as mobile phones, computers, iPads, cars, sports cameras, and every family has more and more smart devices, such as routers, TVs, and stereos. These devices can either continuously produce massive amounts of data or need to continuously consume various digital content. Traditional local storage solutions simply cannot meet the needs of users in the mobile era. Moreover, when we use a more advanced technology, it is difficult to get used to the previous generation of technology. We who are used to using 4G can hardly tolerate 2G. Similarly, we can’t go back to cloud storage.

As long as there is market demand, services will be provided, but in what form they are provided is another matter.

Therefore, I believe that the personal cloud storage market will not fall. After a large number of players are eliminated, the players who persist to the end are more valuable. During the group buying war, a large number of group buying websites closed down, but Meituan is still in service; most taxi apps disappeared after the subsidy war, but Didi became a super unicorn. The market is cruel, but it is also fair. The personal cloud storage market will enter the final stage, and a "Hunger Games" will be staged between Baidu Netdisk, WeCloud and other cloud storages.

The cloud storage market will stage a "Hunger Games"

Why is it called the Hunger Games? Because personal cloud storage platforms are indeed not easy to survive.

Take 360 ​​Cloud Disk, which was unfortunately eliminated, for example. Its official claim was that the legality and security of online storage and content dissemination had not been resolved, but in fact, it was probably more than that. 360 Cloud Disk was criticized by the National Office for Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications in March, indicating that its content review was indeed insufficient. However, as long as there is sufficient technology and manpower investment, content review will not be a problem. The review pressure on video websites at the content level is not greater than that on cloud storage.

360 has always advocated the free model, and so does 360 Cloud Disk. However, compared with the tool nature of security software, cloud storage services require continuous bandwidth, storage, and operation and maintenance investment. The free + advertising model is simply not effective. 360 Cloud Disk launched membership services but still cannot make ends meet. The lack of a business model is the core reason why a large number of online disks have closed down, which can also explain why Baidu Netdisk, Tianyi Cloud, and Weiyun are still alive: even if they are not profitable, personal cloud business has strategic value to the company and must continue to invest: for Baidu, personal cloud is part of its account system and big data strategy; for telecommunications, personal cloud is the core business of its Internet sector. With massive bandwidth resources, user base, and communication technology, they also have inherent advantages in cloud business. For Tencent, it hopes to provide users with one-stop Internet basic services, from IM to email to news, and cloud storage is such an important service that it will not miss.

360 Cloud Disk users will be the target of other online disks. Baidu Cloud Disk has refuted the rumors of closure, and an insider from China Telecom said that the current policy is stable.

What changes will happen to the personal cloud storage market next?

1. Charging will gradually become the mainstream.

Given that the free + advertising model is not feasible, it is inevitable that personal cloud storage will become charged. Cloud storage services provided by mobile phone manufacturers such as iCloud have always been doing well by charging. Why didn't personal cloud storage adopt the charging model before? Because there are many players, and if you charge, users will run to the opponent's platform. Now there are only a few personal cloud storage services left, and they are ready to charge. Users have begun to accept the fact that they have to pay for more and more Internet services. Free movies, free music, and free storage will become history.

Of course, personal cloud storage services do not necessarily adopt a mandatory charging model, just like the practices of QQ Music, iQiyi and other platforms today: there are fewer and fewer free services, and only by charging can you enjoy high-quality services. In fact, the premise of free services is that the service provider must have other ways to make profits. If they cannot find other ways to make profits, it is understandable to charge, otherwise the service cannot be guaranteed.

2. Mobile phone manufacturers may enter the market.

Personal cloud storage is an opportunity for mobile phone manufacturers.

Mobile phones are core data production and consumption tools. The iPhone 7 has increased its capacity to 32GB and up to 256GB. However, local storage is still insufficient and cannot meet the needs of multi-device, multi-scenario, and multi-user sharing. Based on this, cloud storage is very important for mobile phones. And today, when mobile phones are difficult to make profits based on hardware, it is inevitable to rely on services to make profits. Last year, Apple's service business revenue increased by 10% year-on-year to nearly US$20 billion, accounting for 8.5%. These businesses include iTunes, iCloud, and Apple Store. Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are becoming increasingly strong in Internet service fields such as application distribution. Will they enter the personal cloud storage market next? It is possible. It is somewhat puzzling that 360 Cloud Disk and Huawei Cloud Disk are closed instead of being connected with their mobile phone business. However, not every mobile phone manufacturer has the ability to operate cloud storage services. Hammer Technology has "Happy Cloud" but it only supports the synchronization of address books and notes.

3. Home cloud storage becomes a growth point.

Individuals need to store a large number of files, and families also have many files to store. First, there is a need to share photos among family members, and second, there are many devices at home that need cloud storage, such as smart TVs, smart cameras, etc. Therefore, in the future, there will be more cloud storage services launched for families, and sharing will be limited to family members.

4. Content review based on artificial intelligence.

For cloud storage service providers, the three most important cost expenditures are: bandwidth, storage and operation and maintenance, and a large part of the operation and maintenance costs are content review costs. At present, artificial intelligence technology based on deep learning is becoming more and more mature and is being applied in all aspects. Content review based on artificial intelligence technology will greatly improve the timeliness of review, reduce manpower investment and thus reduce operation and maintenance costs. It is believed that cloud storage services will increasingly use artificial intelligence technology in the identification of pornography, anti-piracy and anti-terrorism of videos, pictures and other content.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.